Bovine herpesvirus type 1 glycoprotein C expression in MDBK cells and its reactivity in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Glycoprotein C (gC) of bovine herpesvirus type 1 (BHV-1) is a major viral glycoprotein expressed at high level on the surface of infected cells and on the virion envelope. This glycoprotein is also a major target of immune response at both humoral and cellular levels. The plasmid pRSV-gC having complete coding gene for BHV-1 gC was transfected into MDBK cells and the expression of gC in these cells was detected by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE) and immunoblot analysis. Transcription of the gC gene was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of total RNA isolated from transfected cells. MDBK cells expressing BHV-1 gC were used as antigen in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of antibodies against BHV-1 in field sera. The results were found comparable (92.44%) with those obtained with BHV-1 purified antigen.