Use of GFP to investigate expression of plant-derived vaccines

Plants are low-cost bioreactors for the production of various biopharmaceuticals including oral vaccines. Plant-derived oral vaccines are potentially useful in combating viral infections involving mucosal immunity. Transgenic plants have been generated to successfully produce mucosal vaccines against cholera, hepatitis B, foot-and-mouth disease, and Norwalk virus. As a first step toward the generation of oral vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), we have expressed a recombinant S1 protein of the SARS-CoV in transformed tobacco. Since plant transformation and regeneration of stable transformants require considerable time, we initially used a green fluorescent protein (GFP) to tag the antigen in transient expression. GFP was fused to the carboxy-terminus of S1 for expression of S1-GFP to show expression of recombinant S1 by agroinfiltration of tobacco leaves. The GFP tag enables a relatively quick confirmation of antigen expression in plant cells by fluorescent microscopy. Such analysis using GFP that precedes stable plant transformation will enable the rapid screening of multiple constructs to attain optimal recombinant protein expression. Furthermore, this approach determines the subcellular localization of the recombinant protein in plant cells, providing information on optimal subcellular targeting for production in plant bioreactors.