Construction of a poliovirus type 1/type 2 antigenic hybrid by manipulation of neutralization antigenic site II

There are three serotypes of poliovirus, poliovirus type 1 (PV-1), PV-2, and PV-3. These viruses each display four distinct neutralization antigenic sites, designated N-AgI, N-AgII, N-AgIIIA, and N-AgIIIB. It has been demonstrated previously that part of N-AgI can be replaced with heterogeneous amino acid sequences, resulting in hybrid viruses expressing heterogeneous antigenic determinants. To study whether hybrid viruses could be constructed by modifying another antigenic site, a part of N-AgII (amino acids 158 to 173 of VP2) of PV-1(Mahoney) was replaced with the equivalent sequence from PV-2(Lansing). The resulting hybrid was viable and expressed both PV-1 and PV-2 antigenic determinants. When inoculated into rabbits, the hybrid induced neutralizing antibodies against both PV-1 and PV-2, showing that amino acids 158 to 173 of VP2 are able to function as an antigenic site independent of the rest of N-AgII. Manipulation of N-AgII represents a useful alternative method for the production of hybrid polioviruses.