the following examples set forth preferred materials and procedures in accordance with the present invention . it is to be understood , however , that these examples are provided by way of illustration only , and nothing therein should be deemed a limitation upon the overall scope of the invention . this example compares the relative yields of orf2 using methods of the present invention and methods of the prior art . four 1000 ml spinner flasks were each seeded with approximately 1 . 0 × 10 6 sf + cells / ml in 300 ml of insect serum free media , excell 420 ( jrh biosciences , inc ., lenexa , kans .). the master cell culture is identified as sf + ( spodoptera frugiperda ) master cell stock , passage 19 , lot # n112 - 095w . the cells used to generate the sf + master cell stock were obtained from protein sciences corporation , inc ., meriden , conn . the sf + cell line for this example was confined between passages 19 and 59 . other passages will work for purposes of the present invention but in order to scale the process up for large scale production , at least 19 passages will probably be necessary and passages beyond 59 my have an effect on expression , although this was not investigated . in more detail , the initial sf + cell cultures from liquid nitrogen storage were grown in excell 420 media in suspension in sterile spinner flasks with constant agitation . the cultures were grown in 100 ml to 250 ml spinner flasks with 25 to 150 ml of excell 420 serum - free media . when the cells had multiplied to a cell density of 1 . 0 - 8 . 0 × 10 6 cells / ml , they were split to new vessels with a planting density of 0 . 5 - 1 . 5 × 10 6 cells / ml . subsequent expansion cultures were grown in spinner flasks up to 36 liters in size or in stainless steel bioreactors of up to 300 liters for a period of 2 - 7 days at 25 - 29 ° c . after seeding , the flasks were incubated at 27 ° c . for four hours . subsequently , each flask was seeded with a recombinant baculovirus containing the pcv2 orf2 gene ( seq id no : 4 ). the recombinant baculovirus containing the pcv2 orf2 gene was generated as follows : the pcv2 orf2 gene from a north american strain of pcv2 was pcr amplified to contain a 5 ′ kozak &# 39 ; s sequence ( seq id no : 1 ) and a 3 ′ ecor1 site ( seq id no : 2 ), cloned into the pgem - t - easy vector ( promega , madison , wis . ), and was subsequently excised and subcloned into the transfer vector pvl1392 ( bd biosciences pharmingen , san diego , calif .). the subcloned portion is represented herein as seq id no : 7 . the pvl1392 plasmid containing the pcv2 orf2 gene was designated n47 - 064y and then co - transfected with baculogold ® ( bd biosciences pharmingen ) baculovirus dna into sf9 insect cells ( protein sciences , meriden , conn .) to generate the recombinant baculovirus containing the pcv2 orf2 gene . the new construct is provided herein as seq id no : 8 . the recombinant baculovirus containing the pcv2 orf2 gene was plaque - purified and master seed virus ( msv ) was propagated on the sf + cell line , aliquoted , and stored at − 70 ° c . the msv was positively identified as pcv2 orf2 baculovirus by pcr - rflp using baculovirus specific primers . insect cells infected with pcv2 orf2 baculovirus to generate msv or working seed virus express pcv2 orf2 antigen as detected by polyclonal serum or monoclonal antibodies in an indirect fluorescent antibody assay . additionally , the identity of the pcv2 orf2 baculovirus was confirmed by n - terminal amino acid sequencing . the pcv2 orf2 baculovirus msv was also tested for purity in accordance with 9 c . f . r . 113 . 27 ( c ), 113 . 28 , and 113 . 55 . each recombinant baculovirus seeded into the spinner flasks had varying multiplicities of infection ( mois ). flask 1 was seeded with 7 . 52 ml of 0 . 088 moi seed ; flask 2 was seeded with 3 . 01 ml of 0 . 36 moi seed ; flask 3 was seeded with 1 . 5 ml of 0 . 18 moi seed ; and flask 4 was seeded with 0 . 75 ml of 0 . 09 moi seed . a schematic flow diagram illustrating the basic steps used to construct a pcv2 orf2 recombinant baculovirus is provided herein as fig1 . after being seeded with the baculovirus , the flasks were then incubated at 27 ± 2 ° c . for 7 days and agitated at 100 rpm during that time . the flasks used ventilated caps to allow for air flow . samples from each flask were taken every 24 hours for the next 7 days . after extraction , each sample was centrifuged , and both the pellet and the supernatant were separated and then microfiltered through a 0 . 45 - 1 . 0 μm pore size membrane . the resulting samples then had the amount of orf2 present within them quantified via an elisa assay . the elisa assay was conducted with capture antibody swine anti - pcv2 pab igg prot . g purified ( diluted 1 : 250 in pbs ) diluted to 1 : 6000 in 0 . 05m carbonate buffer ( ph 9 . 6 ). 100 μl of the antibody was then placed in the wells of the microtiter plate , sealed , and incubated overnight at 37 ° c . the plate was then washed three times with a wash solution ( 0 . 5 ml of tween 20 ( sigma , st . louis , mo . ), 100 ml of 10 × d - pbs ( gibco invitrogen , carlsbad , calif .) and 899 . 5 ml of distilled water . subsequently , 250 μl of a blocking solution ( 5 g carnation non - fat dry milk ( nestle , glendale , calif .) in 10 ml of d - pbs qs to 100 ml with distilled water ) was added to each of the wells . the next step was to wash the test plate and then add pre - diluted antigen . the pre - diluted antigen was produced by adding 200 μl of diluent solution ( 0 . 5 ml tween 20 in 999 . 5 ml d - pbs ) to each of the wells on a dilution plate . the sample was then diluted at a 1 : 240 ration and a 1 : 480 ratio and 100 μl of each of these diluted samples was then added to one of the top wells on the dilution plate ( i . e . one top well received 100 μl of the 1 : 240 dilution and the other received 100 μl of the 1 : 480 dilution . serial dilutions were then done for the remainder of the plate by removing 100 μl form each successive well and transferring it to the next well on the plate . each well was mixed prior to doing the next transfer . the test plate washing included washing the plate three times with the wash buffer . the plate was then sealed and incubated for an hour at 37 ° c . before being washed three more times with the wash buffer . the detection antibody used was monoclonal antibody to pcv orf2 . it was diluted to 1 : 300 in diluent solution , and 100 μl of the diluted detection antibody was then added to the wells . the plate was then sealed and incubated for an hour at 37 ° c . before being washed three times with the wash buffer . conjugate diluent was then prepared by adding normal rabbit serum ( jackson immunoresearch , west grove , pa .) to the diluent solution to 1 % concentration . conjugate antibody goat anti - mouse ( h + 1 )- hrp ( jackson immunoresearch ) was diluted in the conjugate diluent to 1 : 10 , 000 . 100 μl of the diluted conjugate antibody was then added to each of the wells . the plate was then sealed and incubated for 45 minutes at 37 ° c . before being washed three times with the wash buffer . 100 μl of substrate ( tmb peroxidase substrate , kirkgaard and perry laboratories ( kpl ), gaithersberg , md . ), mixed with an equal volume of peroxidase substrate b ( kpl ) was added to each of the wells . the plate was incubated at room temperature for 15 minutes . 100 μl of 1n hcl solution was then added to all of the wells to stop the reaction . the plate was then run through an elisa reader . the results of this assay are provided in table 1 below : these results indicate that when the incubation time is extended , expression of orf2 into the supernatant of the centrifuged cells and media is greater than expression in the pellet of the centrifuged cells and media . accordingly , allowing the orf2 expression to proceed for at least 5 days and recovering it in the supernate rather than allowing expression to proceed for less than days and recovering orf2 from the cells , appears to provide a great increase in orf2 yields . this example provides data as to the efficacy of the invention claimed herein . a 1000 ml spinner flask was seeded with approximately 1 . 0 × 10 6 sf + cells / ml in 300 ml of excell 420 media . the flask was then incubated at 27 ° c . and agitated at 100 rpm . subsequently , the flask was seeded with 10 ml of pcv2 orf2 / bac p + 6 ( the recombinant baculovirus containing the pcv2 orf2 gene passaged 6 additional times in the sf9 insect cells ) virus seed with a 0 . 1 moi after 24 hours of incubation . the flask was then incubated at 27 ° c . for a total of 6 days . after incubation , the flask was then centrifuged and three samples of the resulting supernatant were harvested and inactivated . the supernatant was inactivated by bringing its temperature to 37 ± 2 ° c . to the first sample , a 0 . 4m solution of 2 - bromoethyleneamine hydrobromide which had been cyclized to 0 . 2m binary ethylenimine ( bet ) in 0 . 3n naoh is added to the supernatant to give a final concentration of bei of 5 mm . to the second sample , 10 mm bei was added to the supernatant . to the third sample , no bei was added to the supernatant . the samples were then stirred continuously for 48 hrs . a 1 . 0 m sodium thiosulfate solution to give a final minimum concentration of 5 mm was added to neutralize any residual bei . the quantity of orf2 in each sample was then quantified using the same elisa assay procedure as described in example 1 . the results of this may be seen in table 2 below : this example demonstrates that neutralization with bei does not remove or degrade significant amounts of the recombinant pcv2 orf2 protein product . this is evidenced by the fact that there is no large loss of orf2 in the supernatant from the bei or elevated temperatures . those of skill in the art will recognize that the recovered orf2 is a stable protein product . this example demonstrates that the present invention is scalable from small scale production of recombinant pcv2 orf2 to large scale production of recombinant pcv2 orf2 . 5 . 0 × 10 5 cells / ml of sf + cells / ml in 7000 ml of excell 420 media was planted in a 20000 ml applikon bioreactor . the media and cells were then incubated at 27 ° c . and agitated at 1100 rpm for the next 68 hours . at the 68 th hour , 41 . 3 ml of pcv2 orf2 baculovirus msv + 3 was added to 7000 ml of excell 420 medium . the resultant mixture was then added to the bioreactor . for the next seven days , the mixture was incubated at 27 ° c . and agitated at 100 rpm . samples from the bioreactor were extracted every 24 hours beginning at day 4 , post - infection , and each sample was centrifuged . the supernatant of the samples were preserved and the amount of orf2 was then quantified using sds - page densitometry . the results of this can be seen in table 3 below :
an improved method for recovering the protein expressed by open reading frame 2 from pcv2 is provided . the method generally involves the steps of transfecting recombinant virus containing open reading frame 2 coding sequences into cells contained in growth media , causing the virus to express open reading frame 2 , and recovering the expressed protein in the supernate . this recovery should take place beginning approximately 5 days after infection of the cells in order to permit sufficient quantities of recombinant protein to be expressed and secreted from the cell into the growth media . such methods avoid costly and time consuming extraction procedures required to separate and recover the recombinant protein from within the cells .