Expression of HIV-1 antigens in plants as potential subunit vaccines

BMC Biotechnology

Table 3 Comparison of yields of recombinant HIV-1 p24, p17/24 and Gag proteins obtained in N. benthamiana by (A) A. tumefaciens-mediated transient expression or (B) transgenic expression.

	A	B
Recombinant protein	Transient Expression (μg p24/kg)	Transgenic Expression (μg p24/kg)
Pr55Gag
GagC	7 – 44	D
GagER	8 – 13	0.13 – 7
GagCPT	1 – 29	0.03 – 48
p24
p24C	0.01	0.04
p24ER	3691 – 16148	0.01 – 1.19
p24CPT	937 – 4014	636 – 2994
p17/p24
p17/p24C	220	-
p17/p24ER	220	<1
p17/p24CPT	4800	5–230

Levels of protein are expressed as μg p24 per kg of fresh leaf weight. All genes were Nicotiana spp. codon-optimised.
C, ER and CPT in construct names indicate whether the protein remained in the cytosol, or was targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum or the chloroplast, respectively.
D: regenerants died during transplantation
-: no transgenic plants generated

ISSN: 1472-6750