Expression of protein antigen HIV -1 P24 in transgenic tobacco plants

Abstract

The production of antigens for vaccines in plants has the potential as a safe and cost-effective alternative to traditional production systems. Transgene expression from the plant’s plastid genome represents a promising strategy in molecular farming because of the plastid’s potential to accumulate foreign proteins to high levels and the increased biosafety provided by the maternal mode of organelle inheritance. In this thesis, we confirm the high-level expression of HIV-1 p24 antigen in transgenic tobacco plants through plastid transformation. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of the HIV-1 p24 sequence within the chloroplast genome of transgenic lines. SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis of protein extracts from transgenic plants identified plant-expressed HIV-1 p24 protein. Quantification of the recombinant protein HIV-1 p24 using Aligent 2100 Bioanalyzer estimated yields of about 13 mg per g of soluble leaf protein. Our results indicate that plant-based transgenic expression represents the great potential of transgenic plastids to develop HIV vaccine components at low cost and high yield and for use in HIV diagnostic procedures.