Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arthropod-born single-stranded RNA virus belonging to the Alphavirus genus of the Togaviridae family. CHIKV infection causes an illness with symptoms similar to dengue fever. The virion envelope consists of a lipid bilayer derived from the plasma membrane of the host cell, multiple copies of two major virus envelope glycoproteins E1 and E2, and a small 6K peptide. The E1 and E2 proteins form a heterodimer anchored in the viral membrane.
Since the virus is transmitted by the same mosquitos that transmit the dengue and Zika viruses and the clinical symptoms of infection with the viruses are also all similar, it is important to be able to distinguish diagnostically between the different infections. CHIKV E1 protein can be used in the immunoassay kit to diagnose chikungunya infection.
A2321 is composed of the amino acids 67-482 of the chikungunya E1 protein which was cloned into an insect expression vector. The secreted and soluble recombinant protein was purified using affinity chromatography.
