Protective immune response of bacterially-derived recombinant FaeG in piglets.

FaeG is the key factor in the infection process of K88ad enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli(ETEC) fimbrial adhesin. In an attempt to determine the possibility of expressing recombinant FaeG with immunogenicity for a new safe and high-production vaccine in E. coli, we constructed the recombinant strain, BL21 (DE3+K88), which harbors an expression vector with a DNA fragment of faeG, without a signal peptide.

Oral immunization of mice with plant-derived fimbrial adhesin FaeG induces systemic and mucosal K88ad enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-specific immune responses.

The importance of adhesins in pathogenicity has resulted in them being useful targets in the defense against bacterial infections. To produce edible vaccines against piglet diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), plants were genetically engineered to produce recombinant fimbrial adhesin FaeG. To evaluate the efficacy of the edible vaccine FaeG in mice, the soluble protein extracts were examined by about 15 microg recombinant FaeG for each oral immunization dose per mouse.

Immunogenicity of the epitope of the foot-and-mouth disease virus fused with a hepatitis B core protein as expressed in transgenic tobacco.

A novel plant-based vaccine protecting against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was developed by inserting the VP21 epitope into the internal region of the hepatitis B virus core antigen gene (HBcAg). The specific sequence of the VP21 epitope is located within the VP1 capsid protein of the FMD virus (FMDV). It spans 21 amino acids located between positions 140 and 160 of the G-H loop.

A modified TMV-based vector facilitates the expression of longer foreign epitopes in tobacco.

Based upon a mutant isolated from tobacco infected with a recombinant tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a new TMV-based vector was developed in which four to six C-terminal amino acid residues were deleted from the viral coat protein (CP) subunit. The new vector was quite similar to the original TMV-based vector, which all expressed a well characterized epitope peptide F11 (P(142)-A(152)) of VP1 from foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O in tobacco, in the infectivity, yield of the virus particles and more importantly protective activity of F11 in guinea pigs and swine against the FMDV. Furthermore, the capacity of the length of foreign peptide encoded by this new vector was much improved to successfully express a peptide F25 containing two fused epitopes F14 (R(200)-L(213)) and F11 of FMDV VP1, which was failed using the original vector in tobacco.

Expression of foot-and-mouth disease virus epitopes in tobacco by a tobacco mosaic virus-based vector.

We expressed two immunogenic dominant epitopes of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype O in tobacco plant using a vector based on a recombinant tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The recombinant viruses TMVF11 and TMVF14 contained peptides of 11 and 14 amino acid residues, respectively, from FMDV VP 1 fused to the open reading frame of TMV coat protein (CP) gene between amino acid residues 154 and 155. TMVF11 and TMVF14 systemically infected tobacco plant and produced large quantities of stable progeny viral particles assembled with the modified CP subunits.

Production of FaeG, the major subunit of K88 fimbriae, in transgenic tobacco plants and its immunogenicity in mice.

Transgenic tobacco plants stably expressing recombinant FaeG, which is the major subunit and adhesin of K88ad fimbriae, were obtained. Analysis of sera from immunized mice indicates that in mice, the immunogenicity induced by plant-derived FaeG protein is comparable to that generated with traditional approaches.