INVESTIGADORES
SANTANGELO Maria De La Paz
artículos
Título:
Expression of tuberculosis antigen ESAT-6 in Nicotiana tabacum using a potato virus
Autor/es:
ZELADA, ALICIA; CALAMANTE, GABRIELA; SANTANGELO, MARÍA DE LA PAZ; BIGI, FABIANA; VERNA, FLORENCIA; MENTABERRY, ALEJANDRO; CATALDI, ANGEL
Revista:
Tuberculosis (Edinb)
Editorial:
Elsevier
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2006 vol. 86 p. 263 - 267
ISSN:
1472-9792
Resumen:
A good candidate antigen to create a therapeutic vaccine against TB is
the ESAT-6 protein. Antigens produced in plants have already been successfully used
as experimental vaccines, and small single-stranded RNA plant viruses have emerged
as promising tools to rapidly express large amounts of foreign proteins in susceptible
host plants. Here, we present the expression of ESAT-6 protein in Nicotiana tabacumNicotiana tabacum
using a vector based on potato virus X (PVX). The complete ESAT-6 open reading
frame is expressed as a fusion protein with the 2A peptide of Foot and Mouth Disease
Virus and the amino terminal of the PVX coat protein (CP) (PVXESAT-6). This strategy
allows the production of free CP and ESAT-6 as well as fused ESAT-2A-CP to obtain
recombinant chimaeric virions expressing ESAT-6 at the surface to be used as
particulate antigen in vaccination. ESAT-6 expression was tested in agroinfiltrated
tobacco leaves and products of the expected molecular masses corresponding to
cleaved CP and ESAT-2A-CP fusion protein were observed, with ESAT-6 yields ranging
from 0.5% to 1% of total soluble protein. Our study describes for the first time the
expression of the ESAT-6 protein in tobacco plants using a PVX-derived vector. This
strategy should serve as a convenient, rapid, low-cost expression system and can
also be used for the assessment of ESAT-6 production and function prior to stable
plant transformation.