Expression of porcine circovirus 2 ORF2 gene requires codon optimized E. coli cells.

Expression and purification of whole and nuclear localization signal (NLS) deleted ORF2 capsid protein of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) is demonstrated in the present study. Gene coding for both protein forms were cloned into pDest17 vector and expressed in BL21 (DE3)AI cells and in BL21-CodonPlus (DE3)-RIPL E. coli cells. The later cells were used to overcome difficulties with the heterologous expression of viral proteins in prokaryotic systems. Whole 30 kDa recombinant ORF2 protein was successfully expressed in BL21-CodonPlus (DE3)-RIPL cells only, 3 mg of pure protein was consistently obtained per liter of bacterial culture. NLS deleted ORF2 protein was expressed in both cell types. Resulting proteins reacted with PCV2 positive swine serum in immunofluorescent test and immunoblot.