Vaccine for Newcastle Disease Virus
INTRODUCTION
This invention relates to a circular polynudeotide vaccine, capable of expressing a fusion (F) protein of a virulent strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV). This invention further relates to recombinant DNA and a gene encoding such F protein, and bioprecursors and products thereof.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION A known DNA based vaccine is described in: PROTECTION OF CHICKENS FROM NEWCASTLE DISEASE BY VACCINATION WITH A LINEAR PLASMA DNA EXPRESSING THE F PROTEIN OF NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS; Masashi Sakaguchi, Hideki Nakamura, Kengo Sonoda, Fukusaburo Hamada and Kanji Hirai, Vaccine, Volume 14, Number 8, pp 747 - 752, 1996. In this article, a plasmid DNA vaccine is disclosed comprising plasmid DNA expressing the F protein of an avirulent strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV- F). Birds were infected with either circular or linearised plasmid DNA. The article concludes that birds injected with circular plasmid DNA did not produce a significant level of antibody against NDV-F, however, two of five birds injected with the linearised plasmid DNA produced high levels of the antibody.
A disadvantage of the vaccine described in the above article is that it is not capable of raising satisfactory levels of antibody against virulent NDV-F.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a vaccine, a DNA sequence, a gene, and products thereof with which the aforesaid disadvantage can be overcome or at least minimised.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a vaccine including a recombinant plasmid nucleic acid sequence, or part thereof, coding for the F protein of a virulent strain of Newcastle disease virus (NDV), or a portion or bioprecursor thereof.
The recombinant nucleic acid sequence may comprise plasmid DNA.
The recombinant DNA may include plasmid vector DNA and DNA foreign thereto, the foreign DNA coding for a polypeptide bioprecursor of the F glycoprotein of a virulent strain of NDV.
The foreign DNA may have a nucleic acid sequence substantially as depicted in annexure A or part thereof.
The foreign DNA further may include at least one other gene coding for other proteins or compositions. Said other gene may be selected from the group comprising HN gene, type 1 interferon gene, and interferon -gamma gene.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a gene, or part thereof coding for the F protein of a virulent strain of NDV.
The gene may have a nucleic acid sequence substantially as depicted in annexure A.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided recombinant DNA comprising a plasmid vector DNA and DNA foreign thereto, the foreign DNA coding for a polypeptide bioprecursor of the F glycoprotein of a virulent strain of NDV.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a DNA molecule having the following terminal sequences: 5':TGGATCCGGT GATGACCAAA GG: 3'.
The above DNA molecule may have in the order of 1500 to 2000 base pairs.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a genetic vaccine comprising a recombinant DNA molecule including a DNA sequence coding for a polypeptide bioprecursor of the F glycoprotein of a virulent strain of NDV.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a recombinant subunit vaccine capable of expressing an F protein of a virulent strain of NDV via a suitable expression system.
The invention further relates to the expression of such a recombinant subunit vaccine via any suitable prokaryotic or eukaryotic expression system such as viral-vectored-; yeast-; plant-; mammalian-; fish-; or bacterial expression systems.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a vaccine comprising a peptide derived from a cloned ssRNA gene coding for a polypeptide bioprecursor of the F glycoprotein of a virulent strain of NDV.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of producing F protein of a virulent strain of NDV by expression of a recombinant DNA molecule via a suitable expression system.
The invention further relates to F protein of a virulent strain of NDV produced by the method described above.
The invention further relates to F protein of a virulent strain of NDV as described above as a reagent for use in an assay method for detecting virulent NDV infections.
The invention further relates to the use of F protein of a virulent strain of NDV as described above as a vaccine component for eliciting a protective effect in animals against virulent NDV.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a diagnostic serotype sequence specific probe derived from a cloned ssRNA gene coding for a polypeptide bioprecursor of the F glycoprotein of a virulent strain of NDV.
The invention further relates to the use of a serotype sequence specific probe as described above in a method of diagnosing virulent NDV in animals.
The invention further relates to the use of sequence specific ssDNA oligonucleotides or primers in an amplification based method diagnosing the presence of a virulent NDV in animals. This aspect of the invention may also be applied to differential diagnosis of virulent and non-virulent (or vaccine) virus presence or infection.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of treatment of virulent NDV including the step of administering to an animal, an effective amount of a vaccine, a genetic vaccine or a recombinant subunit vaccine as hereinbefore described.
Preferably the vaccine is administered by intra-muscular injection; intra- dermal injection; sub-cutaneous injection; oral immunisation; occular immunisation; in ovo immunisation; and/or by bacterial vector delivery.
According to another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of diagnosing or detecting virulent NDV in animals using a serotype specific probe as described above, a recombinant DNA molecule or expression products thereof.
THE INVENTION WILL NOW BE DESCRIBED IN MORE DETAIL BY WAY OF A NON-LIMITING EXAMPLE.
Introduction:
A strain (Onderstepoort vaccine strain) of the Newcastle disease virus was obtained in 1985 from the Onderstepoort Vaccine Factory (now Onderstepoort Biological Products).
Virus Isolation:
30ml of infective allantoic fluid was centrifuged at 2000g for 5 min. Supernatant was then centrifuged at 88000g for 1 hour and the virus pellet suspended in 1 ml TNE (1 OmM Tris pH7.4, 10OmM NaCI, 1 mM Na2EDTA).
RNA Extraction:
RNA was extracted using a similar method as previously described (M.S. Collins, J.B. Bashiruddin and D.J. Alexander. Deduced amino acid sequences at the fusion protein cleavage site of Newcastle disease viruses showing variation in antigenicity and pathogenicity. Arch. Virol., 1993, 128:363-370). 10μl proteinase K (10mg/ml) was added to 300μl resuspended virus and
incubated at room temperature for 10 min. before adding 10μl sodium
dodecylsulphate (10% w/v) and incubating at 56°C for 20 min. A phenol/chlorophorm (24:1 v/v) extraction was then performed as described in Sambrook et al. (Sambrook J., Fritsch E.F., Maniatis T., Molecular cloning, a laboratory manual, 2nd edition. Cold Spring Harbour Press, New York, 1989.) The aqueous phase was removed to a new tube, and RNA precipitated using 0.3M Sodium acetate and 2 volumes of 96% ethanol. The RNA was allowed to precipitate at -20°C overnight. After centrifugation, pellets were washed in 70% RNase-free ice-cold ethanol and centrifuged once more. RNA pellets were
allowed to dry at room temperature for 15 min before resuspending in 15μl
RNase-free water at 65°C for 5 min.
Accession Numbers for sequences of NDV strains used in alignments for primer design: M24692 M21881 M24694
M24695 M24696
RT-PCR :
cDNA was prepared by incubating 3μl RNA, 1.4μl 5X RT buffer (Superscript,
Gibco BRL), 1μl (50μM) Primer NDV-5 (5'-TGGATCCCGGTTGGCGC-3') and
1.8μl nuclease-free water at 100°C for 30 seconds, and then at 37°C for 10
min. To this was added, 0.7μl HPRI (100u/μl, Amersham) , 0.6μl 5X RT buffer
(Superscript, Gibco BRL), 0.5μl dNTP mix (2.5mM dATP, dUTP, dTTP, dCTP),
0.5μl water and 0.5μl reverse transcriptase (Superscript 200u/μl, Gibco BRL).
The tube was then incubated at 37°C for 1hr.
A PCR reaction was performed on freshly synthesized cDNA using standard
methods. 5μl cDNA was added to a tube containing 0.5μl Takara ExTaq
polymerase (5 u/μl), 10μl 10X ExTaq buffer (Takara), 8μl dNTP mix (2.5mM
dATP, dTTP, dCTP, dGTP), 1μl primer NDV-5 (50μM), 1 μl (50μM) primer NDV-
6 (5'-CCTTTGGTCATCTACA-3') and 75μl nuclease-free water. A PCR
reaction was then carried out using a denaturing temperature of 94°C for 30 sec, annealing at 38°C for 1 min and elongation at 72°C for 5 min for 30 cycles.
Typically 10μl of the PCR mix was then analysed using agarose gel
electrophoresis to ensure that a fragment of the predicted size had been amplified.
Cloning PCR Products:
An amplicon obtained using the RT-PCR method described above was selected for cloning into the commercially available pCR-Blunt vector system (Invitrogen). A protocol outlined in the kit was followed in order to obtain potential clones.
Sequencing and Analysis:
In order to identify which clones contained the desired NDV-F protein ORF and to ascertain directionality of the insert in the plasmid, sequencing of the insert terminal ends was performed using M13 Forward (-40) and Reverse primers. Sequencing was carried out using the standard di-deoxy method developed by Sanger et al. (Sanger F., Nicklen S. and Coulson A.R., 1977, DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 74:5463-5467).
In order to sequence the entire NDV-F protein it was first necessary to construct 2 subclones from the original open reading frame in pUC19 using the restriction enzymes Xmal and EcoRI. These subclones were then sequenced by automated sequencing using the standard M13 Forward (-40) and Reverse primers. All sequence data obtained was confirmed by sequencing the subclones in both the forward and reverse orientations.
The sequence of the gene is depicted in the annexed sequence listing.
Application:
The applicant foresees that this invention have application in inter alia the following: - Vaccines, for example: DNA vaccines, recombinant vaccines, subunit vaccines and edible vaccines; and
Diagnostics, for example: RNA/DNA probing, Elisa and PCR.
It will be appreciated that variations in detail are possible with a vaccine, a DNA sequence, a gene, and products thereof according to the invention without departing from the scope of the appended claims. For example, the DNA sequence may be used in conjunction with one or more other genes, coding for other proteins or compositions, such as the HN gene, type 1 interferon gene, and interferon -gamma gene.