New Approaches to the Development of Viral Vectors

In yet another application of plant virus peptide presentation systems, Borovsky [52] used TMV to present a peptide, trypsin modulating oostatic factor (TMOF), that terminates trypsin biosynthesis in the mosquito gut and causes larval mortality. This unique study uses plant virus particles for the biological control of insect pests. 

Plant Viruses as Gene Function Discovery Tools 

The design of chimeric viruses to create a functional vector system combining components of different viruses and thus expanding the virus host range was one of the early approaches employed by Yusibov et al. [32]. Antigenic determinants from 

Further improvements to vims expression systems include trans-complementation of some of the virus functions from transgenic host plants (P12 plants for AlMV). By integrating parts of the viral vector into the plant chromosome, this system has the potential for multiple technical solutions that could overcome limitations of classical viral vectors [33]. Viral vectors can be used as molecular switches for tightly controlled, high-level transgene expression (Hull et al. unpublished data). 

There is no doubt that plants represent one of the most productive and yet inexpensive sources of biomass. The absence of contaminating animal pathogens, the eukaryotic translational machinery and the ease of plant virus manipulation make plants 

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