Abstract:The objective of this study was to obtain the purified capsid precursor polypeptide(P1)of foot-and-mouth disease virus Asia1/HeB and to prepare its polyclonal antibodies from rabbits.The gene encoding the capsid precursor polypeptide(P1)was amplified by PCR from the recombinant plasmid pGEM-P1,containing the full-length P1 cDNA,and then cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-28a(+)to construct the recombinant plasmid pET-28a/P1.After being induced by IPTG,the polyprotein with relative molecular mass of 80,475 was expressed successfully in E coli.Antisera to the isolated P1 polyprotein was prepared by inoculating rabbits four times with P1 polyprotein eluted from PAGE gels.The ELISA titer of the rabbit anti-FMDV-P1 sera was approximately 1∶25 600.Western blot analysis showed that the antisera could bind to the expressed P1 polyprotein specifically.The results of this study lay a foundation for further study of the structure,function and epitope mapping of the capsid precursor polypeptide(P1).