Application of the biotechnology in plant engineering for the production of edible vaccines

1. PLANT AS BIOREACTOR,
USE FOR THE
PRODUCTION OF EDIBLE
VACCINES
PRESENTED
BY
EKE, ERIC PAUL.
SID: 10509537

2. Plant as Bioreactor
• A Bioreactor is a device in which a substrate
of low value is utilized by living cells to
generate products of higher value.
• Plants used as bioreactors, also known as
transgenic plants, are plants in which foreign
genes of desired characters have been inserted
into and are expressed.
• However, the use of transgenic plants as
“BIOREACTORS” is relatively new in bioscience
and is gaining momentum
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3. Plant as Bioreactor
• Types of plant bioreactors are:
 Seed-based plant bioreactors
 Plant Suspension Cultures
 Hairy Root System Bioreactor
 Chloroplast bioreactor
• The products that are currently being produced
in plants include bioactive peptides, vaccine
antigens, antibodies, diagnostic proteins,
nutritional supplements, enzymes and
biodegradable plastics.
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4. Plant as Bioreactor
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Tree depicting biotechnological advances using plants as bioreactors
Source: www.plantbioreactor.co.in/images/00_112.jpg

5. Plant as Bioreactor
• Vaccines are non-pathogenic antigen strains of
disease- causing microorganisms (bacteria and
viruses) responsible for the stimulation of
protective antibody and other immune
mechanisms to the host organism (s).
• The vaccines can be made from live attenuated
or killed (inactivated) organisms.
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Streatfield SJ et al., 2003

6. Plant as Bioreactor
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• A vaccine in which an antigenic protein is
engineered into an edible plant; after ingestion,
the protein is released and recognized by the
immune system is known as an EDIBLE
VACCINE

7. Plant as Bioreactor
• Two ways ……
• In one case , the entire structural gene is inserted into
plant transformation vector between 5’ and 3’ regulatory
element.
• In the second case , epitope within the antigen are
identified ,DNA fragment encoding these can be used to
construct gene by fusion with a coat protein gene from
plant virus e.g. TMV or CMV .
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8. Plant as Bioreactor
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9. Plant as Bioreactor
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Protein purification
Direct feeding
Antibodies
production:
 Western blotting
 ELISA

10. Plant as Bioreactor
Plasmid vector carrier system :
• Agrobacterium tumefaciens method.
• Micro projectile bombardment method.
• Electroporation method.
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11. Plant as Bioreactor
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12. Plant as Bioreactor
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Micro projectile

13. Plant as Bioreactor
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Administering oral vaccines would require little or no
training at all.
Cost effective as no sophisticated equipment is
required
Oral vaccines provide “mucosal immunity” at various sites
by secreting antibodies.
Don’t need to worry about re-use, misuse and lack of
sterilization. Thus, low risk of infection.
Needle free
Cheap

14. Plant as Bioreactor
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Plant pathogens do not infects infect humans and animals
Needs no purification.
Edible vaccine activates both mucosal and systemic
immunity
Heat-stable; do not require cold-chain
maintenance. Hence, does not require refrigeration.
Proteins can easily be stored indefinitely in seeds `
` with less reduction in biological activities
Storage
Safe

15. Plant as Bioreactor
• Selection of best plant is difficult.
• Consistency of dosage from fruit to fruit, plant-to-plant, and
generation-to-generation is not similar.
• Possible allergic reaction to plant components is yet another remote
concern.
• Effect of GM crops on biodiversity and environment
• There is a risk of “gene pollution” .
• Religious issues ……..vegetarian people and some ethnic groups.
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16. Plant as Bioreactor
• Edible plant-derived vaccines may lead to a
future of safer and more effective immunization.
Resulting therapeutic products would overcome
some of the difficulties associated with traditional
vaccines, like costly production, distribution and
delivery.
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17. Plant as Bioreactor
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