Mapping B-cell linear epitopes of NS3 protein of bovine viral diarrhea virus

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a member of the genus Pestivirus within the family Flaviviridae. NS3 is one of the immunodominance regions of the BVDV viral proteins. To identify the potential B-cell linear antigenic epitopes within BVDV NS3 region, serial overlapping truncations covering the whole region were expressed and purified, and screened by multistep of Western-blot. We found (₁VCKKITEHERCHVNI₁₅), (₂₀AFFGVMPRGTTPRAPVR₃₆), (₄₆RRGLETGWAYTHQGGI₆₁), (₂₈₁EGDMATGITYASYGYFC₂₉₇), (₄₂₆YSGEDPANLRVVTSQSPYVVVATNAIESGV₄₅₅) and (₄₈₁FIVTGLKRMAVTVGEQA₄₉₇) can be recognized by the BVDV infected bovine serum. These proteins have been confirmed by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (I-ELISA). The results of this study might open new perspectives on the structure and antibody–antigen reaction of the non-structural proteins and may aid in the clinical application as well.