Expression of VP1 protein of serotype A and O of foot-and-mouth disease virus in transgenic sunnhemp plants and its immunogenicity for guinea pigs.
Recently, transgenic plants expressing immunogenic proteins of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) have been used as oral or parenteral vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). They exhibit advantages like cost effectiveness, absence of processing, thermostability, and easy oral application. FMDV VP1 protein of single serotype has been mostly used as immunogen. Here we report the development of a bivalent vaccine with tandem-linked VP1 proteins of two serotypes, A and O, present in transgenic forage crop Crotalaria juncea. The expression of the bivalent protein in the transgenic plants was confirmed by Western blot analysis. Guinea pig reacted to orally or parenterally applied vaccine by humoral as well as cell-mediated immune responses including serum antibodies and stimulated lymphocytes, respectively. The vaccine protected the animals against a challenge with the virus of serotype A as well as O. This is the first report on the development of a bivalent FMD vaccine using a forage crop.


BACKGROUND
foot-and-mouth disease; sunnhemp; Agrobacterium tumefaciens; FMDV-VP1 gene; serotype O and A; in planta transformation; transgenic plants; bivalent vaccine.
J P
JP
Rao
P
P
Agrawal
R
R
Mohammad
S K
SK
Rao
G R
GR
Reddy
H J
HJ
Dechamma
V V
VV
S Suryanarayana
D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D036022:Capsid Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005536:Foot-and-Mouth Disease / Q000276:immunology; D029544:Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus / Q000235:genetics; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000276:immunology; D065288:Serogroup; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000276:immunology
D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014765:Viral Vaccines