8th International Conference on Duckweed Research and Applications

Towards a subunit oral vaccine to Newcastle disease in transgenic duckweeds

02 ott 2026, 08:45

15m

Sala Cinese (Department of Agricultural Sciences of the University of Napoli Federico II, Portici, Italy)

Oral Applications III — Biotech

Description

Newcastle virus disease (ND) in poultry is highly contagious. Weak strains cause loss in egg production, virulent strains kill the birds1. NDV virions posses an envelop and contain a single molecule of linear, negative sense RNA coding for at least six proteins. The important proteins for subunit vaccines are two glycoproteins: the hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN), and the fusion protein (F), which are used as antigens for immunization. Immunization is currently by injection, nasal spray, ocular or drinking water that contain the HN antigen.

Duckweeds are small, edible monocot plants that float on the surface of fresh water and need only light, air and some common minerals for rapid growth. Plants of these genera are preferred food as indicated by their name. Transgenic edible plants can deliver vaccines to different animals2.

We introduced HN and the F protein genes into a duckweed species to deliver these antigens for induction of protective immune response in chickens. We get high expression of both antigens in the transgenic plants, which grow normally with no apparent phenotypic change.

Keywords

NDV, duckweed, vaccine, chicken

References

1 Moller, L. et al. (2018) Preventive Veterinary Mfdicine,152,41-48.
2 Shaaltiel, Y. Et al. (2007) Plant Biotechnol. J. 5,579-590