Surface display of an internal His-tag on virus-like particles of Nudaurelia capensis omega virus (NomegaV) produced in a baculovirus expression system.

Nudaurelia capensis omega virus (NomegaV) is a member of the Tetraviridae, a family of small, icosahedral, non-enveloped, (+) sense single-stranded RNA insect viruses with T = 4 symmetry. NomegaV virus-like particles (VLPs), which are morphologically indistinguishable from native virions and capable of packaging heterologous RNA, may be produced in the baculovirus expression system. As a first step towards manipulating the tropism of tetraviral nanoparticles (Capsivectors), a (His)6-tag was inserted into the GH loop (between Ala 378 and Gly 379) of the surface-exposed Ig-like domain of NomegaV capsid protein (p70).

Evaluation of lumpy skin disease virus, a capripoxvirus, as a replication-deficient vaccine vector.

Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), a capripoxvirus with a host range limited to ruminants, was evaluated as a replication-deficient vaccine vector for use in non-ruminant hosts. By using the rabies virus glycoprotein (RG) as a model antigen, it was demonstrated that recombinant LSDV encoding the rabies glycoprotein (rLSDV-RG) was able to express RG in both permissive (ruminant) and non-permissive (non-ruminant) cells. The recombinant LSDV, however, replicated to maturity only in permissive but not in non-permissive cells.