Production, purification and characterization of recombinant dengue multiepitope protein

Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2007 Feb;46(Pt 2):105-13. doi: 10.1042/BA20060090.

Abstract

Dengue is an acute mosquito-borne viral disease of humankind. Dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome have become global public health problems in recent years. rDME-G (recombinant dengue multiepitope protein that can specifically detect IgG) was produced in a 5-litre fermenter in Escherichia coli for use in diagnosis. The culture was induced with 1 mM isopropyl beta-D-thiogalactoside and cells were further grown for 4 h before harvesting. After fermentation, dry cell weight resulted in approx. 16.2 g/l. The rDME-G protein was purified from inclusion bodies using affinity chromatography. The final yield of purified rDME-G protein from fermentation resulted in approx. 168 mg/l of pure biologically active rDME-G protein. The purity of rDME-G protein was checked by SDS/PAGE analysis and the reactivity of this protein was further determined by Western blotting. The purified protein was used to develop an in-house dipstick ELISA and tested using a panel of 60 patient sera characterized using the commercially available tests for detection of dengue antibody. We compared our results with IgG-capture ELISA (Pan-Bio, Windsor, QLD, Australia) and rapid IC (immuno-chromatography) test (Pan-Bio). By using rDME-G protein as an antigen, in the dipstick ELISA, the results were in excellent agreement with commercial rapid IC test and IgG capture ELISA. These results show that the product has a promising potential to be used for diagnosis of dengue in both laboratory- and field-based detection systems with minimum cost and a high degree of sensitivity and specificity.

MeSH terms

  • Dengue Virus / genetics
  • Dengue Virus / metabolism*
  • Epitopes / chemistry
  • Epitopes / genetics
  • Epitopes / immunology*
  • Epitopes / isolation & purification*
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism*
  • Protein Engineering / methods*
  • Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
  • Recombinant Proteins / immunology
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Viral Proteins / chemistry
  • Viral Proteins / genetics
  • Viral Proteins / immunology*
  • Viral Proteins / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Epitopes
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Viral Proteins