Chimaeric plant-produced bluetongue virus particles as potential vaccine candidates.

Abstract Bluetongue virus (BTV) causes bluetongue disease in ruminants and sheep. The current live attenuated and inactivated vaccines available for prevention pose several risks, and there is thus a need for vaccines that are safer, economically viable and effective against multiple circulating serotypes. This work describes the development of recombinant virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine candidates in plants which are assembled by co-expression of the 4 BTV serotype 8 major structural proteins. We showed that substitution of a neutralising tip domain of BTV8 VP2 with that of BTV1 VP2 resulted in the assembly of VLPs which stimulated serotype-specific antibodies, as well as virus-specific neutralising antibodies.