PURPOSE: To obtain a polypeptide having hepatitis C virus (HCV) antigenic activity in high yield and purity by fusing a structural protein gene of the HCV with a β-galactosidase gene and then expressing the resultant fused gene in Escherichia coli.
CONSTITUTION: A fragment of a hepatitis C virus structural protein gene containing a base sequence capable of coding an amino acid sequence of the formula is fused to a β-galactosidase gene. Escherichia coli is then transformed with a recombinant vector containing the resultant fused gene to culture the transformed Escherichia coli (e.g. HB101 [pHCX01]). Thereby, the objective polypeptide containing the amino acid sequence of the formula having the HCV antigenic activity can simply be obtained in high yield.
UKAJI FUMIO
OKADA MASATO
