Efficient expression and purification of porcine circovirus type 2 virus-like particles in Escherichia coli

• Full-length of PCV2 capsid protein is efficiently expressed in E. coli and proceeds to form virus-like particles (VLPs).
• The VLPs can be simply purified by a single-step gel-filtration chromatography.
• VLPs-immunized mice elicit both humoral and cell-mediated immune response to PCV2.

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) capsid (Cap) protein has been successfully used as a vaccine to control porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD). Most PCV2 subunit vaccines are recombinant Cap protein expressed in baculovirus/insect cell expression system, but using this eukaryotic system is laborious and expensive. In our previous study, full-length of PCV2Cap protein expressed in Escherichia coli formed virus-like particles (VLPs). This expression system has the advantages of being relatively simple and inexpensive. In this study, we constructed a recombinant plasmid containing the full-length codon-optimized cap (ORF2) gene to improve high-level expression of recombinant Cap protein (rCap) with no changed amino acids. The highly water-soluble rCap protein was purified by a single-column, high-throughput fractionation procedure based on size exclusion chromatography. Yield was 10 mg per 200 ml bacterial culture. The rCap protein self-assembled into VLPs of diameter 25–30 nm that contained exogenous nucleic acids. The immunogenicity of PCV2 VLPs was analyzed by immunizing mice. VLP-immunized mice mounted specific immune responses to PCV2. Thus, expression of rCap in E. coli was feasible for large-scale production of PCV2 VLPs, which could potentially be used for a VLP-based PCV2 vaccine.