Abstract
The transmembrane HIV-1 envelope protein gp41 has been shown to play critical roles in the viral mucosal transmission and infection of CD4+ cells. Gag is a structural protein configuring the enveloped viral particles and has been suggested to constitute a target of the cellular immunity that may control viral load. We hypothesized that HIV enveloped virus-like particles (VLPs) consisting of Gag and a deconstructed form of gp41 comprising the membrane proximal external, transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains (dgp41) could be expressed in plants. To this end, plant-optimized HIV-1 genes were constructed and expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana by stable transformation, or transiently using a Tobamovirus-based expression system or a combination of both. Our results of biophysical, biochemical and electron microscopy characterization demonstrates that plant cells could support not only the formation of enveloped HIV-1 Gag VLPs, but also the accumulation of VLPs that incorporated dgp41. These findings provide further impetus for the journey towards a broadly efficacious and inexpensive subunit vaccine against HIV-1.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 681-690 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Plant Biotechnology Journal |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2013 |
Keywords
- Enveloped virus-like particles
- Gag
- Gp41
- HIV-1
- Transgenic plants
- Transient expression
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biotechnology
- Agronomy and Crop Science
- Plant Science