CONSTRUCTION OF A EXPRESSION CLONE OF AN EPITOPE GENE OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS BY MUTAGENESIS
he data 
have shown that single epitope of HCMV protein could only be recognized by partial positive 
serafrom patients.A gene clone antigen that can replace virion antigen in serological diagnosis 
need to be composed ofmultiple epitopes of several main antigenic proteins of the virus.To 
understand whether a clone containing repeatgene of epitope can express fusion protein with 
high antigenic titer,we have constructed 3 clones containing 1,2,and 3 copies of the epitope 
gene of HCMV ppUL32 C-terminal respectively by mutagenesis.There was no signifi-cant 
difference of the reactions between the fusion proteins expressed from the 3 clones and viral 
positive sera.Theresults showed that the different numbers of epitope genes in expression 
clones had no significant effect on the anti-genic titers of their fusion proteins.