Purification and characterization of recombinant envelope protein GP5 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus from E. coli

• GP5 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus was expressed and purified from E. coli.
• A novel purification strategy was developed to purify the protein to monomeric form.
• The purified protein shows a homogeneous band in SDS-PAGE, confirmed by western blots, could benefit the diagnosis and vaccine development against PRRSV.

The major envelope protein, GP5, in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) plays critical roles in the assembly, invasion and immune response of PRRSV particle, and is one of the mostly studied candidates in the development of recombinant vaccines. In this research, a purification process including immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) and hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) was developed to prepare recombinant envelope protein GP5 with His-tag from an E. coli strain transformed with pGEM-ORF5. The result of cell culture indicated that His-tagged GP5 protein was expressed mainly in soluble form. After cell disruption, His-tagged GP5 protein was successfully purified by Ni2+-chelating Sepharose Fast Flow with a yield and purity of 80.5% and 48%, respectively. Recombinant GP5 protein was further purified by HIC to achieve a purity of 95%. Moreover, the purified rGP5 is shown in monomeric form contrasting the dimeric or tetrameric form when purified by a CEX-HIC process directly from PRRSV virions as reported in a previous study.