Title:
Production of bacterial lipoproteins in chloroplasts of higher plants
Project management at the University of Würzburg:
Participating scientists:
Abstract:
The aim is the generation of edible plant vaccines through expression of bacterial antigens in plants. We generated transgenic tobacco plants which express the outer surface protein A (OspA) of Borrelia burgdorferi in chloroplasts. B. burgdorferi is the causing agent of Lyme borreliosis, a multisystem inflammatory disease. A vaccine comprised of different outer surface proteins could protect humans and animals from infection. A crucial point of vaccine efficiency is a fatty acid modification (palmitoylation) of the protein. We currently investigate if chloroplasts of higher plants are capable of processing the OspA. Through several attempts we additionally introduce the genes encoding for the modifying enzymes from bacteria to enable chloroplasts of bacteria-like palmitoylation.
Key words:
Chloroplast transformation
Lipoproteins
Edible vaccine
Projekt period: from 12.2001 to 11.2004
Funding institution:
DFG ,Granting date: 19.11.2001