EXPRESSION OF RECOMBINANT P24 PROTEIN IN ESCHERICHIA COLI FOR SEROLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS OF BOVINE LEUKOSIS

Abstract

Bovine leukemia is an infectious lymphoproliferative disease in cattle caused by the bovine leukemia virus (BLV). Production losses associated with BLV include increased cull rates, decreased milk production, or reduced fertility. Serological tests are used for diagnosis of BLV, of which the most sensitive is enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Capsid p24 protein is a diagnostically important antigen of the BLV. The gene of p24 protein was cloned into pET-28 plasmid vector. The recombinant p24 antigen was obtained by using Escherichia coli ArcticExpressRP(DE3)_pET-28/р24 strain. The total yield of the purified p24 protein was 76 mg. Testing of the recombinant p24 protein on control sera showed that the p24 binds to positive control sera and has high antigenic activity. The pilot testing of the recombinant p24 protein on 48 animal samples resulted in 83% positive and 17% negative. The results indicate that the recombinant p24 protein is promising in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the diagnosis of bovine leukemia.