Expression of the human papillomavirus type 6b L2 open reading frame in Escherichia coli: L2-beta-galactosidase fusion proteins and their antigenic properties.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) type 6b genome contains two large open reading frames (ORFs), designated L1 and L2, in a putative late region. These ORFs are expected to code for viral structural proteins. To examine antigenic properties of a L2 gene product, we constructed two plasmids which contain N-terminal (L2-N) and internal (L2-I) regions of the HPV6b L2 ORF and then each region was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with E. coli beta-galactosidase (beta-Gal). Both L2-N/beta-Gal fusion proteins reacted with anti-beta-Gal antibody, but did not react with the antibody prepared against bovine papillomavirus type 1 (BPV1), in contrast with a high reactivity of HPV6b L1-beta-Gal fusion protein with the anti-BPV1 antibody. Antibody raised against the L2-I/beta-Gal protein in a rabbit reacted with viral antigens in the nuclei of cells in superficial epithelium of the condyloma acuminatum tissue, but did not react with the antigens in the bovine papilloma tissue. This antibody recognized a protein from condyloma acuminata which migrates to the position of mol wt 70K-76K on an electrophoresed SDS-polyacrylamide gel. These results suggested that the L2 ORF of HPV6b codes for a capsid protein which is less cross-reactive than the L1 antigen with anti-BPV1 antibody.