Expression and detection of the FMDV VP1 transgene and expressed structural protein in Arabidopsis thaliana

Authors: LI PAN, YONGGUANG ZHANG, YONGLU WANG, JIANLIANG LV, PENG ZHOU, ZHONGWANG ZHANG, YUZHEN FANG, SHOUTIAN JIANG

Abstract: To explore the feasibility of developing a new type of plantderived foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) oral vaccine, the plant seed-specific expression vector p7SBin438/VP1 carrying the VP1 gene of the FMDV strain O/China/99 was constructed and transformed into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain GV3101. This strain was used for transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana via the floral-dip method. The kanamycin-resistant transgenic plants were selected, and the VP1 gene and protein expressions were confirmed by PCR and sandwich-ELISA, respectively. The ELISA positive plants were further confirmed by Western blot assay, and the VP1 gene in the transgenic progeny was confirmed by PCR. The results showed that the Agrobacterium-mediated floral-dip transformation method could produce transgenic Arabidopsis containing the VP1 gene. Therefore, this protocol provides a successful strategy to deliver viral genes to leguminous plants for genetic studies and for production of low-cost oral vaccines.

Keywords: Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), VP1 gene, seed-specific expression vector, transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

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