Expression of Functional Recombinant Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase Proteins from the Novel H7N9 Influenza Virus Using the Baculovirus Expression System

Summary

Here we describe a way to express correctly folded and functional influenza virus surface antigens derived from the novel Chinese H7N9 virus in insect cells. The technique can be adapted to express ectodomains of any viral or cellular surface proteins.

Abstract

The baculovirus expression system is a powerful tool for expression of recombinant proteins. Here we use it to produce correctly folded and glycosylated versions of the influenza A virus surface glycoproteins - the hemagglutinin (HA) and the neuraminidase (NA). As an example, we chose the HA and NA proteins expressed by the novel H7N9 virus that recently emerged in China. However the protocol can be easily adapted for HA and NA proteins expressed by any other influenza A and B virus strains. Recombinant HA (rHA) and NA (rNA) proteins are important reagents for immunological assays such as ELISPOT and ELISA, and are also in wide use for vaccine standardization, antibody discovery, isolation and characterization. Furthermore, recombinant NA molecules can be used to screen for small molecule inhibitors and are useful for characterization of the enzymatic function of the NA, as well as its sensitivity to antivirals. Recombinant HA proteins are also being tested as experimental vaccines in animal models, and a vaccine based on recombinant HA was recently licensed by the FDA for use in humans. The method we describe here to produce these molecules is straight forward and can facilitate research in influenza laboratories, since it allows for production of large amounts of proteins fast and at a low cost. Although here we focus on influenza virus surface glycoproteins, this method can also be used to produce other viral and cellular surface proteins.

Introduction

As a first response to the recent emergence of the novel H7N9 influenza virus strain in China, we acquired plasmids carrying the genomic sequences for the hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) genes of the first two isolates. Using these plasmids we were able to quickly construct baculoviral expression vectors for production of recombinant HA and NA in insect cells. This expression system is well established in our laboratory and has proven pivotal to many of our ongoing research projects^1-8. Insect cells are able to correctly fold and post-translationally modify complex proteins. These modifications include N-linked glycosylation, which is important fo....

Protocol

1. Generation of Recombinant Baculovirus

1. Cloning into baculovirus transfer-plasmids
   1. Clone H7 HA and N9 NA ectodomain (or any other HA or NA gene) into modified pFastBac transfer plasmids (see introduction). Vectors for HA containing a C-terminal trimerization domain and a hexahistidine tag, as well as for NA containing an N-terminal tetramerization domain and hexahistidine tag, have been described^1,10,11,22 (Figure 1) and can be requested from the authors.
      Explanatory note: HA ectodomains expressed without a trimerization domain will be folded incorrectly, leading to loss of conformational ne....

Results

HA molecules from A/Shanghai/1/13 and A/Anhui/1/13 expressed well with yields of about 20 mg/L culture. NA molecules of both strains showed moderate expression levels ranging from 0.2 mg/L culture for A/Shanghai/1/13 to 0.7 mg/L for A/Anhui/1/13. All four protein preparations had very little to no impurities (Figures 8A and B) with HAs being of higher purity than NAs which can be explained by the expression level. A/Shanghai/1/13 HA was further analyzed using ELISA with the broadly neutr.......

Discussion

Although expression of influenza virus HA and NA proteins in insect cells using the baculovirus expression system is generally straight forward, there are several important points to consider. It is important, as pointed out in the introduction, that the ectodomains of HA and NA are expressed in fusion with trimerization or tetramerization domains, respectively. These domains ensure correct folding of the molecules usually assisted by the transmembrane domain, which is not present if only the ectodomain is expressed. For.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Name of Material/ Equipment	Company	Catalog Number	Comments/Description
Bac-to-Bac Baculovirus expression system	Invitrogen	10359-016	Follow manufacturer's instructions
TNM-FH insect medium	Gemini Bioproducts	600-311
HyClone SFX-Insect	Thermo Fisher	SH30278.02
Cellfectin II Reagent	Invitrogen	P/N58760
Pluronic F68	Sigma	1000702664
SimplyBlue SafeStain	Invitrogen	LC6060
Ni-NTA Agarose	Qiagen	1018240
Amicon Ultra Centrigual filters Ultracel 30K	Millipore	UFC902024
Pen Strep	Gibco	15140-122
Polypropylene Columns (5 ml)	Qiagen	34964
Max efficiency DH10Bac bacteria	Invitrogen	10361-012
PureLink HiPure Plasmid Filter Midiprep Kit	Invitrogen	K210015
Imidazole	Sigma-Aldrich	I2399-100G	for elution and wash buffers
Sf9 cells	ATCC	CRL-1711
High Five cells	Invitrogen	B85502