Expression of an antigenic polypeptide of the human parvovirus B19

The DNA fragment of the human parvovirus B19, with 715 nucleotides between nucleotide positions 3141-3856 was expressed in Escherichia coli as a beta-galactosidase fusion protein. The plasmid vector pSS20d used for this purpose permits cleavage of the viral gene product from the beta-galactosidase moiety by collagenase. After purification by p-aminophenyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside-sepharose and superose, a soluble protein with a molecular mass of 28 kDa was isolated. It represents a common part of the viral capsid proteins VP1 and VP2. This bacterially derived parvoviral gene product can be used for detection of anti-B19 antibodies in human sera.