Spring viremia of carp (SVC), caused by spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV), is an important disease that causes significant losses in carp fisheries in many countries. The glycoprotein of spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV/G) is the major viral antigen and plays an important role in viral infection. In this study, SVCV/G gene was cloned and inserted into the genome of baculovirus under the control of p10 promoter. SVCV/G was successfully expressed in insect cells. It was found SVCV/G can mediate insect cell fusion and SVCV/G that is similar to the glycoprotein of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV/G), was detected on the infected insect cell surface by indirect immunofluorescence assay. The size of SVCV/G expressed in insect cells was demonstrated to be approximately 66KDa by Western blot. Comparative analysis of the cell fusions mediated by SVCV/G and VSV/G showed that SVCV/G can cause more severe insect cell fusions. From the data obtained from this study, we speculate that SVCV/G may be incorporated into the recombinant baculovirus envelope, and the recombinant baculovirus harboring SVCV/G on its surface may potentially be used as an effective vaccine against SVCV.

Key words: Baculovirus, Cell fusion, Expression, Glycoprotein, Insect cell, SVCV