European brown hare syndrome virus cDNA and Antigen

European brown hare syndrome (EBHS) virus is a virus that causes a highly contagious and often fatal disease of European hares. The disease was first identified in Europe in the 1980s and has since caused significant declines in hare populations. The virus is a member of the Caliciviridae family and is closely related to rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) which causes a similar disease in rabbits.
The EBHS virus can infect both wild and domestic hares, and is spread through contact with infected animals, their urine, feces, or saliva, or through contact with contaminated objects such as feed or clothing. The clinical signs of the disease include fever, respiratory distress, and hemorrhages in internal organs. Mortality can reach up to 100% in infected hares.

EBHSV is a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA virus, with a genome of approximately 7.5 kilobases in size. The EBHSV genome encodes for a polyprotein that is cleaved into four structural proteins (VP1-VP4) and three non-structural proteins (2Apro, 2B, 2C). The virus replication takes place in the cytoplasm of infected cells, and the virus is shed in the saliva, urine, and feces of infected animals, which makes the disease easily transmissible.

European brown hare syndrome (EBHS) virus antigen refers to a specific protein or component of the EBHS virus that can stimulate an immune response in animals. Antigens are used in the development of diagnostic tests and vaccines as they allow the detection or protection against the virus. Some of the key EBHS proteins include:

The EBHSV virion is composed of several structural proteins, including:

Major capsid protein – the main protein that forms the outer shell of the virion and protects the viral RNA.

p16 – a non-structural protein that is involved in viral replication.

p23 – another non-structural protein that is involved in viral replication.

p41 – a structural protein that forms the protrusions on the surface of the virion.

p29 – a structural protein that is involved in virion assembly and maturation.

p18 – a structural protein that forms the smaller protrusions on the surface of the virion.

Viral genome-linked protein – a protein that is covalently linked to the viral RNA and is involved in viral replication.

VP60 – a major structural protein that forms the capsid of the virion.

These structural proteins work together to allow the virus to infect and replicate within host cells. The VP60 protein is particularly important for the virus to evade the host immune system, as it can rapidly mutate and change its antigenic structure. The complexity of the EBHSV virion and the variability of its structural proteins make it a challenging target for the development of effective vaccines and antiviral therapies.

Understanding the functions and interactions of these proteins is critical for developing effective treatments and prevention strategies for EBHSV-associated diseases. Ongoing research is focused on uncovering more about the virus and its proteins, with the goal of ultimately finding a way to control and eradicate the disease.

The use of recombinant proteins/cDNA in academic research and therapeutic applications has skyrocketed. However, in heterologous expression systems, successful recombinant protein expression is dependent on a variety of factors, including codon preference, RNA secondary structure, and GC content. When compared to pre-optimization, more and more experimental results demonstrated that the expression level was dramatically increased, ranging from two to hundred times depending on the gene. Bioclone has created a proprietary technology platform that has resulted in the creation of over 6,000 artificially synthesized codon-optimized cDNA clones (cloned in E. coli expression Vector), which are ready for production of the recombinant proteins.