Farming of Plant-Based Veterinary Vaccines and Their Applications for Disease Prevention in Animals.

Pit Sze Liew,Mohd Hair-Bejo

doi:10.1155/2015/936940

Abstract

Plants have been studied for the production of pharmaceutical compounds for more than two decades now. Ever since the plant-made poultry vaccine against Newcastle disease virus made a breakthrough and went all the way to obtain regulatory approval, research to use plants for expression and delivery of vaccine proteins for animals was intensified. Indeed, in view of the high production costs of veterinary vaccines, plants represent attractive biofactories and offer many promising advantages in the production of recombinant vaccine proteins. Furthermore, the possibility of conducting immunogenicity and challenge studies in target animals has greatly exaggerated the progress. Although there are no edible plant-produced animal vaccines in the market, plant-based vaccine technology has great potentials. In this review, development, uses, and advantages of plant-based recombinant protein production in various expression platforms are discussed. In addition, examples of plant-based veterinary vaccines showing strong indication in terms of efficacy in animal disease prevention are also described.

Highlights

Plant molecular farming is a term used to describe the application of molecular biological techniques to the synthesis of commercial products in plants, which include a variety of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, as well as secondary products [1]
Animals primed subcutaneously with 12 μg of recombinant protein emulsified in oil adjuvant and boosted intramuscularly after 30, 60, and 90 days were protected from challenge with the virulent virus
Rabbits fed with 500 μg of recombinant protein and boosted on 21, 42, and 63 days after primary vaccination were partially protected from challenge with the virulent virus

Summary

Introduction

Plant molecular farming is a term used to describe the application of molecular biological techniques to the synthesis of commercial products in plants, which include a variety of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, as well as secondary products [1]. Transient gene expression represents a rapid and convenient system for verification and characterisation of the target gene product Notwithstanding, it is a routine practice in molecular farming for the production of foreign proteins [3]. Compared to transient expression systems, the major advantage of stable transgenic lines is that the candidate gene sequence is incorporated into the plant genome and the acquired protein production trait is inherited. This allows the transfer of the desired character to the and over multiple generations [4]. Seed stock could be established, which assures the continuing availability of the stock [5]

Brief History of Development of PlantBased Recombinant Protein Production

Merits of Plant Production System

Plant-Based Expression Platforms of Recombinant Proteins

Proof of Concept Plant-Derived Veterinary Vaccines

Findings

Conclusions