Abstract
The assembly of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) requires the cleavage of the P12A polyprotein into individual structural proteins by protease 3C. In this study, we constructed a recombinant baculovirus that simultaneously expressed the genes for the P12A and 3C proteins of Asia I FMDV from individual promoters. The capsid proteins expressed in High Five insect cells were processed by viral 3C protease, as shown by Western blotting, and were antigenic, as revealed by their reactivity in an indirect sandwich-ELISA, and by immunofluorescent assay. The empty capsid-like particles were similar to authentic 75S empty capsids from FMDV in terms of their shape, size and sedimentation velocity, as demonstrated by sucrose gradient centrifugation. Both empty capsid-like particles and some small-sized particles (about 10nm in diameter) were also observed using immunoelectron microscopy. Furthermore, the empty capsid-like particles or intermediates induced high levels of FMDV-specific antibodies in guinea pigs following immunization, and neutralizing antibodies were induced in the second week after vaccination. These recombinant, non-infectious, FMDV empty capsids are potentially useful for the development of new diagnostic techniques and vaccines.