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The nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) has been shown to be highly heterogeneous and variable among PRRSV strains and some sequences in the middle region of the nsp2 are not essential to viral replication. Recent studies have attempted to insert foreign genes in the nsp2 nonessential regions but the foreign genes were not stably expressed by recombinant viruses in vitro. In the present study, we first constructed an infectious cDNA clone with deletion of 75 nucleotides (25 amino acids) in the nsp2 region (rHuN4-F112-Δ508-532) of the attenuated vaccine virus HuN4-F112 derived from a highly pathogenic PRRSV HuN4 and then inserted a gene fragment encoding a immunodominant B-cell epitope (49 amino acids) of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) nucleoprotein (NP) in-frame into the deletion site. The viable recombinant virus was rescued from the full-length cDNA infectious clone in vitro. The engineered viruses rescued from the cDNA clone indicated that the deletions of 75 nucleotides and insertion of NDV NP gene in the nsp2 region did not affect viral replication; they had similar growth kinetics to its parental virus. The inserting gene could be expressed consistently when the recombinant virus was passaged up to twenty times in cell cultures as determined by immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and genomic sequencing. To investigate the potential application of the NDV NP gene-inserted PRRSV as a marker vaccine, piglets were immunized with the recombinant virus and then challenged with lethal dose of highly pathogenic PRRSV. The immunized piglets produced specific antibodies against both the NDV NP and PRRSV, and lacked antibodies against the deleted 25aa nsp2 epitope. After challenge, all immunized piglets were protected from clinical disease or death, while all piglets in control group died (5/5) by ten days post challenge. The results of the present study indicated that the recombinant PRRSV (rHuN4-F112-Δ508-532) could be used as a potential marker vaccine against PRRS.

Using mutation PCR, we cloned the target gene containing 421-480nt (141-160aa) and 598-639nt (200-213aa) of VP1 gene of foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) into the deleted region (508-532aa) of Nsp2 gene of a highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus derived vaccine strain (HuN4-F112) that was used as vector. The recombinant cDNA was in vitro transcribed followed by transfection of BHK-21 cells for 36 h. Then, the supernatant of the cell culture was continuously seeded to monolayer of MARC-145 cells for recovery of the recombinant virus. CPE was obviously visible after a couple of passages in the seeded MARC-145, and the rescued virus (designated as rPRRSV-F112-O/VP1ep) was identified by Mlu I digestion, sequencing and immunofluorescence assay. Meanwhile, expression of inserted FMDV epitopes was also detected by indirect immunofluorescence assay with polyclonal antibodies against VP1 protein of FMDV. The analysis of biological characteristics shows that the titer of the rescued recombinant PRRSV (TCID50 = -log10(-6.75)/0.1 mL) was similar to its direct parental virus rHuN4-F112-delta508-532, but higher than rHuN4-F112.

Background Nowadays, PRRS has become one of the most economically important infectious diseases of pig worldwide. To better characterize and understand the molecular basis of PRRSV virulence determinants, it would be important to develop the infectious cDNA clones. In this regard, HuN4-F112, a live-attenuated North-American-type PRRSV vaccine strain, could serve as an excellent model. Results In the study, genomic sequence of HuN4-F112, an attenuated vaccine virus derived from the highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) HuN4 strain, was determined and its full-length cDNA was cloned. Capped RNA was transcribed in vitro from the cDNA clone and transfected into BHK-21 cells. The supernatant from transfected monolayers were serially passaged in Marc-145 cells. The rescued virus exhibited a similar growth pattern to its parental virus in Marc-145 cells with peak titers at 48 h post-infection. Conclusion In conclusion, we rescued virus from an infectious cDNA clone of attenuated vaccine. It is possible in the future that a new attenuated PRRSV vaccine with broader specificity and good immunogenicity can be designed in vitro via an infectious cDNA clone platform coupled with validated information on virulence determinants.

Background The regions in the middle of nonstructural protein 2 (nsp2) of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) have been shown to be nonessential for PRRSV replication, and these nonessential regions are different in various viral strains. Finding In this study, the nonessential regions of the nsp2 of an attenuated vaccine strain (HuN4-F112) of highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus were identified based on an infectious cDNA clone of HuN4-F112. The results demonstrated that the segments of nsp2 [amino acids (aa) 480 to 667] tolerated deletions. Characterization of the mutants demonstrated that those with small deletions did not affect the viral growth on Marc-145 cells, but deletion of these regions led to earlier PRRSV replication increased (before 36 h after infectious in vitro). Conclusion The functional roles of nsp2 variable middle region for PRRSV HuN4-F112 replication have been identified. Our results also suggested that none-essential region might be an ideal insertion region to express foreign gene in PRRSV genome.