[Isolation and purification of host factors interacting with Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein]

Objective To construct the plasmid expressing the fusion protein of Hantaan virus nucleocapsid protein (HTNV NP) with affinity tag, and isolate the host factors interacting with NP using the affinity purification. Methods The synthetic streptavidin-FLAG (SF) gene and HTNV NP gene were cloned into the mammalian eukaryotic expression vector to obtain the recombinant expression plasmid (pCAGGS-SF-NP). The plasmid pCAGGS-SF-NP was transfected into HEK293T cells, and the expression of SF-NP was detected by Western blotting. Next, cell lysates were mixed with StrepTrap^TM HP agar beads. After incubating overnight at 4DegreesCelsius, the agar beads were transferred into affinity chromatography column and washed with elution buffer. Finally, the binding proteins that interacted with SF-NP were collected by competitive elution buffer with desthiobiotin, and then were subjected to SDS-PAGE. Results The recombinant SF-NP proteins were highly expressed in eukaryotic cells. The host factors interacting with SF-NP were successfully enriched by affinity purification, and confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Conclusion The host factors interacting with HTNV NP can be isolated by affinity purification.