Part:BBa_K1621001

Glycoprotein E epitope derived from Varicella Zoster Virus

Figure 1: Schematic view of the Varicella Zoster Virus with glycoprotein spykes

This part contains the coding sequence of the N-terminal part of glycoprotein E derived form Varicella Zoster Virus (figure 1).

Thomssona et al. (2011) generated this sequence for the development of next generation vaccines against Varicella Zoster Virus. Amino acids 1 – 539 were used to mimic the N-terminal domain which is located in the extracellular space. It exposes several linear as well as conformational B cell epitopes (Fowler et al., 2995). Therefore, is has been suggested as a vaccine component by Haumont et al. (1996). Besides its use for vaccination strategies, its antibody binding properties can be used for diagnostic applications.
There are different types of epitopes included in this part. Some of the epitopes are linear, so recognition by an antibody depends only on the primary structure of the polypeptide. Regarding other epitopes, the glycosylation pattern is important for antibody binding. The part exhibits some N- and O-glycosylations, that cannot be added in a prokaryotic expression system. For this reason, the part’s sequence is optimized for expression in a mammalian cell line.

The part was added to the registry in the iGEM standard vector pSB1C3 beginning with a start codon (ATG). Cloning the part into the shipping backbone was performed by Gibson Assembly and the sequence was verified afterwards.

References

Fowler WJ, Garcia-Valcarcel M, Hill-Perkins MS, Murphy G, Harper DR, Jeffries DJ, Burns NR, Adams SE, Kingsman AJ, Layton GT (1995). Identification of immunodominant regions and linear B cell epitopes of the gE envelope protein of varicella-zoster virus. Virology 214, 531–540.

Haumont M, Jacquet A, Massaer M, Deleersnyder V, Mazzu P, Bollen A, Jacobs P (1996). Purification, characterization and immunogenicity of recombinant varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein gE secreted by Chinese hamster ovary cells. Virus Res. 40, 199–204.

Thomssona E, Perssonb L, Grahnb A, Snällb J, Ekbladb M, Brunhageb E, Svenssonc F, Jernd C, Hanssonc GC, Bäckströma M, Bergströmb T (2011). Recombinant glycoprotein E produced in mammalian cells in large-scale as an antigen for varicella-zoster-virus serology. Journal of Virological Methods 175 53– 59