Identification of a novel B cell epitope of ASFV pCP312R recognized using a monoclonal antibody.

African swine fever (ASF) is an acute and devastating infectious disease that has caused significant economic losses to the global pig industry since it was first discovered and reported. African swine fever virus (ASFV) has a large genome encoding more than 160 proteins. The biological characteristics and functions of its various proteins still remain unclear; therefore, the efficacy of specific drugs and vaccines against ASFV remains limited. ASFV pCP312R is an important ASFV protein that exhibits good immunogenicity. In this study, five monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting pCP312R were successfully prepared. Confocal microscopy observations showed that pCP312R was located in the viral factory at the late stage of ASFV infection, and was co-located with p30 and pK205R. These results suggested that pCP312R might be involved in ASFV assembly. Neutralization tests revealed that pCP312R mAb could not neutralize ASFV. Next, we identified the B cell epitopes of one of the most immunogenic mAbs and found a novel epitope of pCP312R, 72TIPPSTDEEVIR83, which was conserved in different pCP312R strains. Overall, five ASFV pCP312R monoclonal antibodies were prepared, and the antigenic epitope of one strain was identified in this study, laying a foundation for further studies on ASFV pCP312R function and facilitating serological diagnosis vaccine development for ASFV.