Vaccine construction and transgene expression. The rAAV1/PA63, rAAV1/LF, and rAAV1/eGFP vaccine constructs were engineered as depicted in a–c to express PA63, lethal factor (LF), or enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP), respectively. For each construct, expression was confirmed by infection of HeLa cells and subsequent analysis of cell lysates by western blot using anti-PA, anti-LF, or anti-eGFP antisera as shown in d–f for rAAV1/PA63, rAAV1/LF, and rAAV1/eGFP, respectively. Lysates from cells infected with vaccine constructs (+) were run in lanes adjacent to lysates from cells infected with irrelevant control vector (–). CMV, cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter; ITR, inverted terminal repeat; intron, an SV40 derived intron; Opt L, a synthetic optimized leader sequence; PA, protective antigen; rAAV1, recombinant adeno-associated virus type 1; SV40pA, an SV40 polyadenylation signal.