Fig. 1

The architecture of plasmids used along with results of scFv-MS2 VLP fusion construct expression. a Schematic representation and abbreviated nucleotide sequence of pDSP62-scFv. In all cases, the specific scFv is fused in the same way to coat protein. Note the end of the MS2 coat protein sequence in blue, the amber stop codon in red, the flexible glycine linker between coat and scFv in green, and the beginning of the specific scFv sequence in purple. tP7 = T7 terminator (paired with leading T7 promoter). b Agarose gel stained with ethidium bromide indicating the presence of intact, RNA-containing VLPs in both wild-type (WT) and all fusion (M18, AF20, scFv26, scFv66) samples. c Western blot results for samples found in b. Proteins were separated via SDS-PAGE and then transferred to nitrocellulose for blotting. Blot was developed with rabbit anti-MS2 primary and goat anti-rabbit HRP-IgG secondary antibodies. Note the presence of the single-chain dimer (SCD) coat protein in all samples and a higher-weight band in the scFv fusion samples (scFv); this is presumed to be the scFv-coat protein fusion. Double bands in some wells are believed to be potential degradation products of the scFv-coat protein fusion, though their presence does not appear to affect function. pDSP62 = WT coat protein only