Production of transgenic seeds expressing vaccine antigens against enteric disease of piglets

The oral delivery of plant-made vaccines is particularly attractive since the low costs, the heat stability, the avoidance of the injections and for the production of specific antibodies in the mucosa, where the major pathogens gain access to the body (Loza-Rubio et al., 2012). In pig industry novel strategies are required to control enteric infections, in particular caused by verocytotoxic Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains and Salmonella thyphimurium, the two most important bacterial pathogens in the weaning period. The general aim of this study was to produce three different lines of transgenic tobacco plants expressing in the seeds the F18 fimbriae adhesive, the VT2e-B toxin (both from O138 VTEC strain) and the flgK flagellin (from Salmonella thyphimurium) respectively, as a model of edible vaccine