Matrix M protein combined with nucleocapsid N protein could be a promising combination of virus antigens for diagnosing the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome. The goal of this work was to express the recombinant M protein of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus in Escherichia coli cells and compare its serological reactivity with the N protein of the virus. The gene coding for the M protein was cloned into the pDest17 vector. The resulting protein was purified by metalochelating affinity chromatography. Recombinant M protein was applied as an antigen in immunoblot test and compared on a panel of porcine sera with N protein based IDEXX test. Of 120 examined samples, the majority (78.3%) gave identical results using both compared tests. From the group of discrepant results, IDEXX test identified considerably more positive sera (17.5%) than M protein based test (4.2%). The main contribution of the work is finding that although IDEXX test proved to be more sensitive than M protein based test, 4.2% of sera would escape detection by serological test based on N protein. Further development and purification of the M protein for the use in Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay format test could increase the performance of serological testing.

CEITEC Central European Institute of Technology Brno Czech Republic

University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Clinic of Horse Diseases Brno Czech Republic

University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Brno Czech Republic

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