Chicken anemia virus (CAV) is an anemia agent of breeder and young chicks. This virus is the cause of economic losses across the chicken industry worldwide as a consequence of severe anemia and immunodeficiency among the birds. Two genes of CAV encoding the VP1 and VP2 proteins were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). A Western blot assay using His-tag antiserum was used to assess the expression level of the CAV viral proteins in E. coli. The results demonstrated that only full-length VP2 can be Successfully expressed in E. coli, but not full-length VP1. A serial of N-terminus deletions of the VP1 protein, VP1Nd30, VP1Nd60 and VP1 Nd129, were created using PCR in order to improve VP1 expression. The results demonstrated that all three of these recombinant VP1 mutant proteins can be expressed in E. coli. VP1Nd129 protein demonstrates the highest expression level compared to the other two proteins. The specificity of Nd129-VP1 and VP2 protein were confirmed by mass spectrometry. By comparing the expression level of VP1Nd129 and VP2 protein after the addition of IPTG, the results indicated that the VP1Nd129 protein gave a higher level of protein expression than VP2. The highest yields of VP1Nd129 and VP2 were 26.2 and 15.5 mg/L, respectively, after IPTG induction with 0.1 mM IPTG for 6 h, respectively. The identification of the optimized conditions for production of the CAV viral proteins VP1 and VP2 will allow them to be used in the future as an antigen for the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.