Expression of immunogenic hepatitis B surface antigens in transgenic plants
AssigneeBoyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Inc.
InventorsHugh S. Mason, Yasmin Thanavala, Charles Joel Arntzen, Elizabeth Richter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Plant expression vectors comprising at least two expression cassettes are provided which function to reduce transcriptional silencing of polynucleotide expression. Further, novel plant expression vectors for expression of immunogenic polypeptides, including HBsAg, are provided. The plant expression vectors can be used to produce immunogenic polypeptides, including HBsAg, in edible plant tissues. The edible plant tissues can be used to elicit an immune response in humans and animals when the plant tissues are consumed.
Claims41
A plant expression vector comprising two expression cassettes, wherein the first expression cassette comprises a first polynucleotide sequence encoding an antigen polypeptide and wherein the second expression cassette comprises a second polynucleotide sequence encoding said antigen polypeptide encoded by said first polynucleotide sequence, wherein said first polynucleotide sequence is non-identical to said second polynucleotide sequence.
A polynucleotide comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) operably linked to:
- (i) a plant finctional promoter;
- (ii) a translation enhancement sequence;
- and
- (iii) a termination sequence wherein, the polynucleotide lacks an untranslated region between the translation enhancement sequence and the HBsAg encoding sequence.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.