A Preliminary Study of the Structure Prediction and Expression of SARS-CoV Spike Protein
SARS冠状病毒S蛋白结构预测及表达初探

In this study, the encoding sequences of SARS-CoV spike protein were analyzed by bioinformatics methods, the structural characteristics and functions were forecasted based on available data. It suggests that the fragment of spike glycoprotein (S401~659) may be crucial for viral attachment and may be a major immunodominant epitope. Then the fragment was amplified and subcloned into expression vector pET28a( ) and pPIC9K. These two plasmids (pET28a( )-S) and pPIC9K-S were transformed to E.coli strain BL21(DE3)-star and Pichia pastoris, respectively. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis showed that the recombinant protein was successfully expressed. The denatured inclusion bodies were purified with Ni-NTA chelate agarose and its purity can reach 90%.