The N-terminus of the Montano virus nucleocapsid protein possesses broadly cross-reactive conformation-dependent epitopes conserved in rodent-borne hantaviruses

• Published in: Virology (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 428; no. 1; pp. 48 - 57
• Main Authors: Saasa, Ngonda, Yoshida, Haruka, Shimizu, Kenta, Sánchez-Hernández, Cornelio, Romero-Almaraz, María de Lourdes, Koma, Takaaki, Sanada, Takahiro, Seto, Takahiro, Yoshii, Kentaro, Ramos, Celso, Yoshimatsu, Kumiko, Arikawa, Jiro, Takashima, Ikuo, Kariwa, Hiroaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 20.06.2012
• Subjects: Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Antibodies, Monoclonal - immunology; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Antibody Specificity; Cell Line; Conformational epitope; Conserved Sequence; Cross Reactions; Cross-reactivity; Epitopes - chemistry; Epitopes - genetics; Epitopes - immunology; Hantavirus; Hantavirus - chemistry; Hantavirus - genetics; Hantavirus - immunology; Hantavirus Infections - immunology; Hantavirus Infections - veterinary; Hantavirus Infections - virology; Humans; Infectious Disease; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Molecular Sequence Data; Monoclonal antibody; Montano virus; Nucleocapsid protein; Nucleocapsid Proteins - chemistry; Nucleocapsid Proteins - genetics; Nucleocapsid Proteins - immunology; Rodent Diseases - immunology; Rodent Diseases - virology; Sequence Alignment; Hantavirus; Monoclonal antibody; Nucleocapsid protein; Montano virus; Cross-reactivity; Conformational epitope
• ISSN: 0042-6822; 1096-0341
• DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2012.03.001

Abstract The hantavirus nucleocapsid (N) protein is an important immunogen that stimulates a strong and cross-reactive immune response in humans and rodents. A large proportion of the response to N protein has been found to target its N-terminus. However, the exact nature of this bias towards the N-terminus is not yet fully understood. We characterized six monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the N protein of Montano virus (MTNV), a Mexican hantavirus. Five of these mAbs recognized eight American hantaviruses and six European and Asian hantaviruses, but not the Soricomorpha-borne Thottapalayam hantavirus. The N protein-reactive binding regions of the five mAbs were mapped to discontinuous epitopes within the N-terminal 13–51 amino acid residues, while a single serotype-specific mAb was mapped to residues 1–25 and 49–75. Our findings suggest that discontinuous epitopes at the N-terminus are conserved, at least in rodent-borne hantaviruses, and that they contribute considerably to N protein cross-reactivity.