Engineered chloroplasts as vaccine factories to combat bioterrorism
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Efficient Agroinfiltration of Plants for High-level Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins
Published on: July 23, 2013
1Applied Biotechnology Institute, 101 Gateway Boulevard, Suite 100, College Station, TX 77845, USA. sstreatfield@fraunhofer-cmb.org
Abstract:
Bacillus anthracis is ideal for making biological weapons, but the licensed anthrax vaccine is unsuitable for widespread public administration. Recombinant subunit-vaccine candidates offer potential alternatives, and plant-based production systems facilitate the inexpensive bulking of target antigens. A recent report demonstrates expression of anthrax protective antigen in tobacco chloroplasts--this material is immunogenic and protective when injected into mice. Provided an economic purification scheme can be developed, this technology holds promise for an improved vaccine.
Related Concept Videos
Synthetic Biology
Golden rice
Golden rice is a genetically modified...
Vaccine Production
Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...
Production of Pharmaceuticals
Plant Breeding and Biotechnology
Bioreactor Controls-III

