Frontiers in Veterinary Science (Aug 2022)

Construction and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Pseudorabies Virus Expressing SARS-CoV-2-S and SARS-CoV-2-N

  • Ruoying Li,
  • Ruoying Li,
  • Ruoying Li,
  • Guanming Shao,
  • Guanming Shao,
  • Guanming Shao,
  • Zi Xie,
  • Zi Xie,
  • Zi Xie,
  • Zezhong Hu,
  • Zezhong Hu,
  • Zezhong Hu,
  • Keyu Feng,
  • Keyu Feng,
  • Keyu Feng,
  • Jiahui He,
  • Jiahui He,
  • Jiahui He,
  • Hailong Wang,
  • Jun Fu,
  • Xinheng Zhang,
  • Xinheng Zhang,
  • Xinheng Zhang,
  • Xinheng Zhang,
  • Qingmei Xie,
  • Qingmei Xie,
  • Qingmei Xie,
  • Qingmei Xie

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.920087
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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Coronavirus (CoV) is an important pathogen of humans and animals, which can infect humans or animals through the respiratory mucosal route. Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is quite similar to syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) with the same receptor, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). The S and N proteins are the most important protective antigens of the SARS-CoV-2. The S protein on the viral membrane mediates the virus attachment with the host cells, and the N protein is the most abundant expression during infection. In this study, the recombinant viruses expressing the S and N proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were successfully constructed by Red/ET recombinant technology using Pseudorabies virus (PRV) strain Bartha-K61 as a vector. Genetic stability and growth kinetics analysis showed that the recombinant viruses rPRV-SARS-CoV-2-S and rPRV-SARS-CoV-2-N had similar genetic stability and proliferation characteristics to the parental PRV. The immunoassay results showed that mice immunized with recombinant viruses could produce total IgG antibodies. Therefore, PRV is feasible and promising as a viral vector to express SARS-CoV-2-S and SARS-CoV-2-N genes. This study can provide a reference for future research on live vector vaccines for domestic animals, pets, and wild animals.

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