Bacterial expression of an immunologically reactive PCV2 ORF2 fusion protein

The entire coding region of open reading frame 2 (ORF2) of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) was linked to the 3'-end of the maltose-binding protein (MBP)-His(8)-tag gene. The fusion protein was expressed as soluble form after induction by isopropylthio-beta-d-galactoside. MBP-His(8)-ORF2 was purified to homogeneity by immobilized metal affinity chromatography based on the interaction of the polyhistidine-tag with metal ions. Expression could represent 1% of the total protein in Escherichia coli, allowing approximately 1 mg of highly purified protein to be obtained per liter of bacterial culture. The fusion protein was recognized in Western blot by anti-PCV2 polyclonal antibody and swine sera with PCV2 infection. In addition, rabbit polyclonal antibody raised against purified MBP-His(8)-ORF2 fusion protein reacted with the ORF2 protein in immunoprecipitation. The availability of this fusion protein should permit a thorough study of prevalence of PCV2 infection in large-scale serological studies of field samples.