Compositions comprising a mixture of proteins derived from MaSP, nucleic acids encoding same and method for the preparation of synthetic dragline spider silk are provided. The compositions of the invention comprise a mixture of proteins of differing molecular weight, wherein each protein of said mixture comprises, independently, multiple repeats of a repetitive region of a MaSP (major ampullate spidroin) protein or a functional homolog, variant, derivative or fragment thereof.

Some embodiments of the invention include inventive polypeptides (e.g., mutant VP2 proteins) and virus-like particles made from the inventive polypeptides. Other embodiments of the invention include compositions for treating (e.g., preventing) parvovirus (e.g., erythrovirus or parvovirus B19) infection and other diseases. Further embodiments include methods for administering compositions to an animal. Other embodiments include treating (e.g., preventing) parvovirus (e.g., erythrovirus or parvovirus B19) infection and other diseases. Still other embodiments include nucleic acid sequences that encode the inventive polypeptides. Additional embodiments of the invention are also discussed.

The disclosure relates, in some aspects, to compositions and methods for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and/or frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Alzheimer's disease, Gaucher disease, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, or a lysosomal storage disease). In some embodiments, the disclosure provides expression constructs comprising a transgene encoding one or more inhibitory nucleic acids (e.g., targeting C9orf72, TMEM106B, ATNX2, RPS25, etc.), wild-type C9orf72 protein or a portion thereof, or any combination of the foregoing. In some embodiments, the disclosure provides methods of ALS/FTD by administering such expression constructs to a subject in need thereof.

Vaccination methods to control PCV2 infection with different PCV2 subtypes are disclosed. Specifically, a PCV2 subtype b (PCV2b) ORF2 proteins or immunogenic compositions comprising a PCV2b ORF2 protein are used in a method for the treatment or prevention of an infection with PCV2 of the same PCV2b and/or different subtype; the reduction, prevention or treatment of clinical signs caused by an infection with PCV2 of the same PCV2b or a different subtype; and/or the prevention or treatment of a disease caused by an infection with PCV2 of the same PCV2b and/or a different subtype. The present invention in particular relates to PCV2 subtype b (PCV2b) ORF2 proteins characterized in that they contain at least one mutation in the BC loop that such that the expressed protein is preferably expressed in a higher amount compared to a PCV2 ORF2 protein that does not contain such mutation.

The present invention relates to the production of adeno-associated viral vectors in insect cells. The insect cells therefore comprise a first nucleotide sequence encoding the adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid proteins, whereby the initiation codon for translation of the AAV VP1 capsid protein is a non-ATG, suboptimal initiation codon and wherein the coding sequence for one or more amino acid residues have been inserted between the suboptimal translation initiation codon and the codon encoding the amino acid residue that corresponds to the amino acid residue at position 2 of the wild type capsid amino acid sequence of which the first amino acid residue is alanine, glycine, valine, aspartic acid or glutamic acid. The insect cell further comprises a second nucleotide sequence comprising at least one AAV inverted terminal repeat (ITR) nucleotide sequence; a third nucleotide sequence comprising a Rep52 or a Rep40 coding sequence operably linked to expression control sequences for expression in an insect cell; and, a fourth nucleotide sequence comprising a Rep78 or a Rep68 coding sequence operably linked to expression control sequences for expression in an insect cell. The invention further relates to adeno-associated viral vectors with an altered ratio of the viral capsid proteins.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to a nucleic acid comprising a heterologous nucleic acid insert flanked by interrupted self-complementary sequences, wherein one self-complementary sequence is interrupted by a cross-arm sequence forming two opposing, lengthwise-symmetric stem-loops, and wherein the other of the self-complementary sequences is interrupted by a truncated cross-arm sequence. Methods of delivering the nucleic acid to a cell are also provided.

The present invention relates to recombinantly constructed proteins useful for analytical assays, in particular for determining in a biological sample obtained from an individual the presence of antibodies specific for a rhabdovirus. More particular, the present invention relates to a polypeptide comprising an ectodomain of a rhabdovirus glycoprotein and a heterologous multimerization domain linked to said ectodomain. In one example, a fusion protein of the formula x-y-z is provided, wherein x consists of or comprises such an ectodomain being optionally free of a furin cleavage site, y is a linker moiety, and z is a heterologous multimerization domain optionally selected from the group consisting of immunoglobulin sequence, coiled coil sequence, streptavidin sequence, fibritin sequence, and avidin sequence.

The present invention relates to a pseudotyped insect baculovirus gene transfer system and a virus for shrimps, and a construction method and use thereof. The present invention belongs to the technical field of genetic engineering. The pseudotyped insect baculovirus gene transfer system for shrimps disclosed in the present invention includes a Bac-to-Bac insect baculovirus expression system, an expression plasmid carrying shrimp virus envelope protein gene and an insect packaging cell. The present invention can achieve stable and efficient transfer and expression of a foreign gene in a shrimp tissue and cell.

The invention concerns a baculovirus expression vector for recombinantly expressing an FMDV capsid precursor protein under control of a promoter, the expression vector comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding the FMDV capsid precursor protein and the translational enhancers Syn2 land p10UTR. The invention further relates to a host cell comprising the baculovirus expression vector, a method of producing FMDV virus-like particles (VLPs), and a method of producing a vaccine.

For many diseases due to microbes or the like, proliferation of microbes themselves is a cause of a symptom. However, there were cases where a substance released by the microbes is a cause of a symptom. In such cases, when attempting to treat a disease with an antibody, it was necessary to obtain an antibody against an antigen that is a substance causing the disease. However, it was difficult to find the underlying substance causing the disease among substances released by the microbes. An antibody (polyclonal) binding to not only an antigen but also to a substance, which is secreted by the antigen and accelerates the deterioration of a symptom, is obtained by immunizing birds with a lysis solution produced from lysing microbial cells as an antigen. Further, an antibody obtained with a surface protein of a virus as an antigen is expected to inhibit an infection by a virus.