Health: Molecular farming for plant-based veterinary vaccines

Using "molecular farming" technologies based on plants to manufacture the latest generation of veterinary vaccines with cheaper and faster procedures. This is the objective of the international project AVIAMED  (Prevention and control of avian viral diseases of the Mediterranean area with vaccines produced in plants), coordinated by ENEA and funded by the European research program ERANET Arimnet2 and by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies. The 'green' vaccines produced in plants will allow to fight avian diseases widespread in countries bordering the Mediterranean basin.

"The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, as well as the avian influenza and the Ebola haemorrhagic fever, showed us that many infectious diseases dangerous for human health originate from animals", Selene Baschieri researcher at the ENEA Biotechnology Laboratory and AVIAMED coordinator pointed out. "The innovation of this project is the use of plants as actual 'factories' to manufacture in a short time low cost diagnostic tests and latest generation vaccines to fight the spread of infectious diseases in animals which, as already said, can be not only a veterinary medicine problem and / or damage to the industry, but a challenge for global public health.

It is no coincidence that AVIAMED is fully included in 'One Health', the international public health initiative based on the principle of a strong interconnection among human, animal and environmental health, " Baschieri continued.

"The integrated approach adopted by the project is a virtuous example of multisectoral scientific collaboration and shows that the technology platform of Molecular Farming is capable of providing fast, versatile and above all low-cost solutions", Marcello Donini, at the ENEA Biotechnology Laboratory pointed out .

In particular, a multidisciplinary team comprising veterinarians, biotechnologists and immunologists has used plants to develop antigens and viral-like particles of the IBDV1 virus that causes Gumboro disease in chickens, capable of reducing times, costs of production and risks of undesired reactions. compared to traditional vaccines and the first diagnostic test for IBDV which will make it possible to distinguish between infected and vaccinated animals. New vaccines against the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) are being developed, one of the most severe diseases of domestic and wild birds, which in the last century has caused as many as four pandemics, generating infections that can be transmitted to man.

The AVIAMED project also includes Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary "Hassan II" and National Institute of Agricultural Research (Morocco) and Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (Egypt); several "peer-reviewed" publications have been produced which will be presented at the 6th 'One Health' World Congress in Edinburgh from 30 October to 3 November 2020.

For more information please contact:

Selene Baschieri, ENEA – Biotechnologies Laboratory, selene.baschieri@enea.it

Marcello Donini, ENEA –Marcello Donini, ENEA – Biotechnologies Laboratory, marcello.donini@enea.it