Fig. 2.

Recombinant pHERV-W ENV oligomerization. Automated capillary Western blot technology (Simple Western®) was used for characterizing pHERV-W ENV antigen produced in E. coli expressing system (rENV). pHERV-W ENV detection was performed with GN_mAb_Env01 antibody. This highly sensitive technology provided different types of information: migration electrophoregrams (A, D), digital Western blots (B, E) and quantitative interpretation based on calculation of the area under curve -AUC- (C, F and G). Here, the self-assembly properties of pHERV-W ENV were assessed in basic DMEM or DMEM media with 10% FBS (A–F). Kinetics of oligomerization were performed within 24 h of incubation, supernatants were harvested at different time-points and each form of pHERV-W ENV was quantified (C, F). pHERV-W ENV oligomerization characteristics after overnight (ON) incubation at 37 °C in presence of 1.5% SDS, 10% FBS, 10% FBS + 10% BSA extracted without fos-cholin 16, or with fos-cholin 16 when mentioned, are documented in G and H. All experiments were repeated 6 times.