Oral Presentation 6th Modern Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis & Its Applications Symposium 2017

Peptide arrays for mapping of viral epitopes and serological detection of murine norovirus infections (#28)

Ralf Hoffmann 1
  1. Universitat Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Health monitoring of animals is a critical factor for surveillance and accuracy of animal experiments. Murine norovirus (MNV) is the most frequent pathogen in laboratory mice with a prevalence of ~30 %. Additionally, MNV is the model system to study human norovirus (HNV) infections due to the lack of straightforward cell culture systems propagating HNV. Linear peptides mimicking the epitopes of viruses are heavily studied for vaccine developments as well as diagnostic tools. When mapping the epitopes of MNV on medium-density (cellulose membrane) and high-density arrays (glass slide) using sera of experimentally infected mice, we could identify eleven sites in virus proteins 1 and 2 (VP1 & VP2) and the non-structure protein 1 (NSP1). Seven MNV epitopes were confirmed as specific and sensitive. No cross-reactivity was observed against other murine viruses commonly detected in experimental mice. The high-density array allowed a sensitive sero-diagnostics. Similarly, it was possible to detect immunogenic sites in other murine viruses, although they were less specific and sensitive limiting the use of high-density peptide arrays as a universal tool to detect murine virus infections in laboratory animals.