Synthesis of the measles virus nucleoprotein in yeast Pichia pastoris and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Rimantas Slibinskas, Dhanraj Samuel, Alma Gedvilaite, Juozas Staniulis, Kestutis Sasnauskas*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The development of a simple, efficient and cost-effective system for generation of measles virus nucleoprotein might help to upgrade reagents for measles serology. The gene encoding measles nucleoprotein was successfully expressed in two different yeast genera, Pichia pastoris and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, respectively. Both yeast genera synthesized a high level of nucleoprotein, up to 29 and 18% of total cell protein, in P. pastoris and S. cerevisiae, respectively. This protein is one of most abundantly expressed in yeast. After purification nucleocapsid-like particles (NLPs) derived from both yeast genera appeared to be similar to those detected in mammalian cells infected with measles virus. A spontaneous assembly of nucleoprotein into nucleocapsid-like particles in the absence of the viral leader RNA or viral proteins has been shown. Compartmentalisation of recombinant protein into large compact inclusions in the cytoplasm of yeast S. cerevisiae by green fluorescence protein (GFP) fusion has been demonstrated. Sera from measles patients reacted with the recombinant protein expressed in both yeast genera and a simple diagnostic assay to detect measles IgM could be designed on this basis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)115-124
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Biotechnology
Volume107
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Jan 2004

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the EC 5 Framework programme grant QLK2-CT-2001-01632.

Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Expression
  • Measles
  • Nucleocapsid-like particles
  • Pichia pastoris
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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