J Korean Med Sci.  1994 Dec;9(6):476-481. 10.3346/jkms.1994.9.6.476.

Gene cloning of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) antigen reactive with the serum from a HCMV-infected patient

• Kim MN
• Park CG
• Hwang ES
• Lim DG
• Park JW
• Seoh JY
• Kook YH
• Lee HJ
• Choi SB
• Cha CY

• KMID: 644839
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.1994.9.6.476

Abstract

The human cytomegalovirus(HCMV) gene encoding the protein reactive with the sera of HCMV-infected patient was cloned and characterized. A reactive phage clone was screened from a lambda gt11 expression library of cDNA of HCMV AD169 strain using HCMV-infected patient sera. The recombinant protein was expressed as 138 kDa-fusion protein with beta-galactosidase, which was reactive with IgM or IgG HCMV antibody-positive sera, but not with anti-HCMV antibody-negative sera. A homology search of the DNA sequence of the cloned gene with HCMV AD169 sequences revealed that it was composed of 709 base pairs spanning between 0.174 and 0.177 map units of the UL32 region of the HCMV AD169 strain genome. This position corresponded to a part of the gene encoding 150 kDa phosphoprotein-(pp150), a major tegument protein, which was reported as an immunogenic protein which evoked strong and longstanding antibody response and had no sequence homology with the proteins of other herpesviruses. These results suggested that pp150 was an immunogenic protein in natural HCMV infection and therefore this clone was regarded as a useful candidate for developing an antigen for the serodiagnosis of HCMV.

Keyword

human cytomegalovirus(HCMV); phosphoprotein 150(pp150); Gene cloning; Serodiagnosis

MeSH Terms

Antibodies, Viral/*blood/immunology
Antigens, Viral/*genetics/immunology
Cloning, Molecular
Cytomegalovirus/genetics/*immunology
Cytomegalovirus Infections/blood/*immunology/virology
DNA, Complementary/genetics
DNA, Viral/genetics
Gene Library
*Genes, Structural, Viral
Human
Recombinant Fusion Proteins/biosynthesis/immunology
Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Viral Matrix Proteins/*genetics/immunology