Bluetongue virus recombinant vaccines and uses thereof

Abstract

The present invention encompasses BTV vaccines or compositions. The vaccine or composition may be a vaccine or composition containing BTV antigens. The invention also encompasses recombinant vectors encoding and expressing BTV antigens, epitopes or immunogens which can be used to protect animals, such as ovines, bovines, or caprines, against BTV.

1 - 25 . (canceled) 
     
     
         26 . A method of producing a BTV antigen comprising: (a) culturing within a duckweed culture medium a duckweed plant or duckweed nodule, wherein the duckweed plant or the duckweed nodule is stably transformed with a plasmid to express the antigen, and wherein the antigen is expressed from a nucleotide sequence comprising a coding sequence for the antigen; and (b) collecting the antigen from the duckweed plant or duckweed nodule. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the BTV antigen is selected from the group consisting of BTV VP2, BTV VP5, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the BTV antigen has at least 80% sequence identity to a polypeptide having a sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:4, 6, or 10. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the BTV antigen is BTV VP2 having at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4 or 6. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the BTV antigen is BTV VP5 having at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:10. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises a sequence having at least 70% sequence identity to the sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, or 9. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the plasmid comprises an alpha amylase leader sequence, an RbcS leader sequence, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the alpha amylase leader sequence comprises a sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:26. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the RbcS leader sequence comprises a sequence as set forth in SEQ ID NO:27.