Journal of Veterinary Science  2013;14(3):263-270

doi:10.4142/jvs.2013.14.3.263

Expression of verocytotoxic Escherichia coli antigens in tobacco seeds and evaluation of gut immunity after oral administration in mouse model.

Luciana ROSSI 1 ; Alessia DI GIANCAMILLO ; Serena REGGI ; Cinzia DOMENEGHINI ; Antonella BALDI ; Vittorio SALA ; Vittorio DELL'ORTO ; Annelies CODDENS ; Eric COX ; Corrado FOGHER

Affiliations

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Keywords

Agrobacterium tumefaciens; edible vaccines; Escherichia coli; pig; verocytotoxins

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

MeSH

Abstract

Verocytotoxic Escherichia (E.) coli strains are responsible for swine oedema disease, which is an enterotoxaemia that causes economic losses in the pig industry. The production of a vaccine for oral administration in transgenic seeds could be an efficient system to stimulate local immunity. This study was conducted to transform tobacco plants for the seed-specific expression of antigenic proteins from a porcine verocytotoxic E. coli strain. Parameters related to an immunological response and possible adverse effects on the oral administration of obtained tobacco seeds were evaluated in a mouse model. Tobacco was transformed via Agrobacteium tumefaciens with chimeric constructs containing structural parts of the major subunit FedA of the F18 adhesive fimbriae and VT2e B-subunit genes under control of a seed specific GLOB promoter. We showed that the foreign Vt2e-B and F18 genes were stably accumulated in storage tissue by the immunostaining method. In addition, Balb-C mice receiving transgenic tobacco seeds via the oral route showed a significant increase in IgA-positive plasma cell presence in tunica propria when compared to the control group with no observed adverse effects. Our findings encourage future studies focusing on swine for evaluation of the protective effects of transformed tobacco seeds against E. coli infection.