Heterologous expression of Infectious bursal disease virus VP2 gene in Chlorella pyrenoidosa as a model system for molecular farming

Infectious bursal disease is a highly contagious and immunosuppressive disease of chickens. Available vaccines induce some sort of stress during vaccination program in chickens. In the present study, an attempt was made to overexpress IBDV VP2 in edible algae. These algae expressing IBDV VP2 could be used to vaccinate animals in stress free environment. IBDV VP2 over expression was carried under CaMV35S promoter and the gene expression cassette was cloned into pART27 binary vector. IBDV expressing construct was transformed into Chlorella pyrenoidosa through Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated gene transfer. Transformed C. pyrenoidosa cells were selected through PCR screening test. Further, expression of IBDV VP2 protein in transformed C. pyrenoidosa was confirmed by western blot analysis to ensure the production of IBDV VP2 protein. This study will provide a new platform to generate oral vaccine against IBDV by using C. pyrenoidosa as model platform. Graphical Abstract