GM ( Genetically modified ) tomatoes may be key to bird flu fight
Genetically-modified tomatoes may become a key weapon in the global fight against bird flu.
Australian plant scientist Amanda Walmsley, of Melbourne’s Monash University, is working on growing a vaccine against the deadly H5N1 virus in tomatoes.
Dr Walmsley, who has recently returned to Australia from the United States, was part of a team that developed the world’s first plant-made vaccine to prevent a different disease that affects poultry.
That vaccine, for Newcastle Disease, was produced in tobacco plants.
She hopes to use similar techniques to develop an oral vaccine against bird flu in poultry.
It will involve introducing a gene from the H5N1 virus into the cells of tomato plants.
The gene would then tell the plant cells to produce a specific protein, found in bird flu, effectively making the tomatoes a factory for the vaccine.
Once birds were vaccinated, the protein would protect them if they came into contact with H5N1.
Dr Walmsley said the scientists planned to make a vaccine in injectable form first, and then trial oral and inhalable forms so that it could be delivered to poultry en masse.
She hopes to have a vaccine ready for preliminary testing in mice by the end of the year.