Isolation of OmpA gene from Salmonella typhimurium and transformation into alfalfa in order to develop an edible plant based vaccine

Abstract

The outer membrane protein A (OmpA) of Salmonella typhimurium may contribute to immunity and virulence in livestock animals. Introduction of this gene in forage crops like alfalfa may be an alternative and effective way to produce animal edible vaccine. In the present study, the OmpA gene was obtained after polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing. We successfully identified the complete ORF encoding this protein. In order to express OmpA protein in alfalfa, the gene was inserted
into a plant expression vector PBI121.The recombinant OmpA was  expressed in Escherichia coli TG1. The new construct was used to transform the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Strain LBA4404 before plant transformation. Transgenic alfalfa plants were then developed by introducing OmpA gene in the plant genome under the control of Camv35s promoter and for the first time we expressed this protein in alfalfa. Releasing this one new transgenic variety may be a considerable progress towards release varieties which enables the production of edible vaccine.

Key words: Outer membrane protein A (OmpA), sub cloning, plantibodies, transgenic alfalfa, bioreactor, edible vaccine.