Expression of hepatitis B surface antigen in saccharomyces cerevisiae

The genome of HBV virus of serotype ayw cloned in pBR322 and expression shuttle vector pYES2 were used for construction of the HBsAg chimeric genes and their expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two recombinant plasmids were constructed. One of them contained the coding sequences for the major polypeptide of surface antigen. Another construct carried the major polypeptide with the pre-S2 antigenic determinant. These vectors were transferred into the yeast. Only pDF1 which contained the HBsAg gene was expressed. Some peculiar features of recombinant plasmid construction and expression of the HBsAg gene are discussed