Identification of a linear B-cell epitope on the avian leukosis virus P27 protein using monoclonal antibodies

Xiaofei Li1,2, Liting Qin2, Haibo Zhu3

  • 1Division of Avian Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No. 427 Maduan Street, Nan Gang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China.

Archives of Virology
|July 21, 2016
PubMed

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) is an avian oncogenic retrovirus that can induce various clinical tumors. The capsid protein P27 is the group-specific antigen of ALV and has many viral antigen sites that are easy to detect. In this study, we produced a monoclonal antibody (mAb), 3A9, that is specific for the P27 protein. A series of partially overlapping peptides were screened to define (181)PPSAR(185) as the minimal linear epitope recognized by mAb 3A9. The identified epitope could be recognized by chicken anti-ALV and mouse anti-ALV P27 sera. The epitope was highly conserved among a number of ALV-A, ALV-B and ALV-J strains. MAb 3A9 might be a valuable tool for the development of new immunodiagnostic approaches for ALV, and the defined linear epitope might help further our understanding of the antigenic structure of the P27 protein.