Cloning and Expression of Recombinant Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus-like Particles in Pichia pastoris

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to verify the feasibility of using the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAP) promotor based Pichia pastoris expression system to produce tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) virus-like particles (VLPs). METHODS: The complementary DNA encoding the TBEV prM signal peptide, prM, and E proteins of TBEV Korean strain (KrM 93) was cloned into the plasmid vector pGAPZɑA, then integrated into the genome of P. pastoris, under the control of the GAP promoter. Expression of TBEV VLPs was determined by Western blotting using monoclonal antibody against TBEV envelope (E) protein. RESULTS: Recombinant TBEV VLPs consisting of prM and E protein were successfully expressed using the GAP promoter-based P. pastoris expression system. The results of Western blotting showed that the recombinant proteins were secreted into the culture supernatant from the P. pastoris and glycosylated. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that recombinant TBEV VLPs from P. pastoris offer a promising approach to the production of VLPs for use as vaccines and diagnostic antigens.