Serial Expression Of The Truncated Fragments Of The Nucleocapsid Protein And Glycoprotein Of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus And Identification Of The Epitope Region

Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a tick-borne disease caused by Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV), which belongs to the genus Nairovirus in the family Bunyaviridae. The disease occurs in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe and results in an approximately 10%-50% fatality rate. Currently, there is no effective method for the detection and treatment of CCHF.In this study, the expressing vectors carrying series truncated fragments of nucleocapsid protein (NP) gene from S fragment of CCHFV strain YL04057 were constructed. The recombinant proteins were expressed in E.coli and purified for detection. The antigenic of the truncated fragments of NP was detected with a polyclonal serum (rabbit) and 2 monoclonal (mAbs()14B7 and 43E5)against CCHFV by Western-blot analyses. The results showed that three expressed constructs, which all contain the 235 amino acids (aa) to 305 aa peptides could be detected by the polyclonal serum the mAbs. The results suggested that region of 235-305 aa of NP is a highly antigenic region which is highly conserved among NP proteins.On the other hand, the expressing vectors carrying series truncated fragments of glycoprotein (GP) gene from M fragment were constructed. The recombinant proteins were expressed in E.coli and were purified for detection. The antigenic of epitopes of series truncated fragments of Glycoprotein was detected with anti-CCHFV serum (rabbit) by Western-blot analysis. The results showed that recombination proteins could not be detected by anti-CCHFV serum (rabbit).Identification of the epitope regions of the virus is important for the diagnosis and epidemiological studies of CCHFV infections.