An interspecific Nicotiana hybrid as a useful and cost-effective platform for production of animal vaccines.

The use of transgenic plants to produce novel products has great biotechnological potential as the relatively inexpensive inputs of light, water, and nutrients are utilised in return for potentially valuable bioactive metabolites, diagnostic proteins and vaccines. Extensive research is ongoing in this area internationally with the aim of producing plant-made vaccines of importance for both animals and humans. Vaccine purification is generally regarded as being integral to the preparation of safe and effective vaccines for use in humans.

Current status of plant-made vaccines for veterinary purposes.

Interest is growing for the use of plant-made vaccines for veterinary purposes since the regulatory landscape still enables delivery of either crude extracts or minimally processed plant materials to animals for medicinal purposes. In this article, we highlight the current research directions taken with four diseases considered as important constraints to international trade in animals: avian influenza, Newcastle disease, foot-and-mouth disease and diarrheal disease caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. We also discuss appropriate plant production platforms with regards to plant species and transformation methodologies, possible areas of development, and the remaining challenges for plant-made vaccines for veterinary purposes.