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Back to the main page of the National Research Programme «Benefits and Risks of the Deliberate Release of Genetically Modified Plants» NRP 59.
Projects:
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Green algae as an oral vaccine for fish - completed
Commercial farming of edible fish protects wild populations
from overfishing, but it requires the controversial use of antibiotics. It is hoped that vaccination with genetically modified green algae will provide a solution.
Background
Aquaculture is a sustainable alternative to fishing wild populations. However, in the crowded
conditions of aquaculture, fish are susceptible to bacterial infections that are traditionally controlled with antibiotics. This has a number of negative consequences: development of resistance among aquatic bacteria, transfer of resistance to human pathogens and the presence of antibiotic residues
in fish consumed by humans. This is why efforts are
intensifying to vaccinate fish against diseases. This type of vaccination is, however, both time-consuming and expensive.
Objectives
Genetic engineering offers an alternative to conventionally manufactured vaccines. This project will genetically modify the green alga Chlamydomonas in such a way that it can be used to vaccinate rainbow trout against furunculosis, a bacterial infection.
Methods
A bacterial gene implicated in the fish disease
furunculosis will be incorporated into the chloroplast genome of a green alga (the chloroplast is an internal compartment of the plant cell). This will enable the alga to produce antigens that trigger an immune response in the fish, vaccinating it against the disease. Trials with rainbow trout will ascertain tolerance to the vaccine and establish how it can best be administered to the fish. Finally, the genetically engineered vaccine will be compared with conventional vaccines.
Significance
Aquaculture can only be a sustainable alternative
to fishing wild populations if the preventive and therapeutic use of antibiotics is reduced. This means that vaccines need to be manufactured more cheaply and made easier to administer. Genetically modified green algae used as a vaccination vector could be administered simly to the fish with their food, helping promote more sustainable aquaculture.
Project title: Fish vaccination with chloroplast transformants
of Chlamydomonas expressing bacterial antigenes
Grant: CHF 401 560.–
Duration: 36 months
| Prof. Dr. Michel Goldschmidt-Clermont |
| Département de biologie moléculaire et Département de botanique et biologie végétale |
| Université de Genève |
| Sciences III, 30 quai E.-Ansermet |
| 1211 Genève 4 |
| 022 379 61 88 |
michel.goldschmidt-clermont@molbio.unige.ch
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| Prof. Dr. Joachim Frey |
| Universität Bern |
| Vetsuisse-Fakultät |
| Länggassstrasse 122 |
| 3012 Bern |
| 031 631 24 14 |
joachim.frey@vbi.unibe.ch
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