Oral administration of plant-based rotavirus VP6 induces antigen-specific IgAs, IgGs and passive protection in mice

Abstract

Plant viruses show significant potential as expression vectors for producing foreign proteins in plants. In this study, codon-optimized VP6 gene (sVP6) of human rotavirus was engineered as a replacement to the coat protein (CP) open reading frame of Beet black scorch virus (BBSV). In vitro-generated RNA transcripts corresponding to the engineered virus were infectious when inoculated onto the leaves of Chenopodium amaranticolor. Molecular analysis revealed that sVP6 was efficiently expressed and accounted for 0.25% of the total soluble protein (TSP) in plant leaves on 7 dpi. On average, a high level 1.54 μg of sVP6 was expressed in each gram of infected leaves. Oral immunization of female BALB/c mice with the plant-based sVP6 protein induced high titers of anti-VP6 mucosal IgA and serum IgG. 60% of suckling pups born from immunized dams were protected against the virulent rotavirus challenge and those infected pups developed less severe diarrhea. These results suggested that it is feasible to induce lactogenic immunity against an enteric pathogen through oral vaccination, by using the antigen produced in a new BBSV-based plant protein expression system.