Presenting Peptides at the Surface of Potyviruses In Planta

Potyviruses are plant viruses with elongated, flexuous virions amenable to modifications in the only viral structural protein, the coat protein (CP). Out of the several theoretically possible modifications to the CP, the one most exploited for peptide presentation is the genetic fusion of the peptide-to-be-expressed, to the CP N-terminus. Successful high-level expression of the modified CP has been achieved this way. The purified recombinant viral particles incorporate most, if not all, the properties of the expressed peptides. For many purposes, the recombinant virus particles present in extracts of infected plants should be purified for further use. Procedures for carrying out the whole process, from cloning to purification are described in the chapter.