Studies in the field of active ingredient synthesis for transgenic plant vaccines have been ongoing for more than 20 years, because of the many advantages of plant-made vaccines in comparison to classical and traditional component vaccines. These include lower cost, increased safety and easier storage. In the field of veterinary vaccines, recently the focus has mainly been on the development of oral vaccines, which would enable a much easier immunization of animals, particularly in the livestock industry. Nuclear transformation is the most commonly used transformation method for plants, chloroplast transformation and viral expression systems are also used, but less frequently. The most common expression platforms are in vitro cultures, as well as cereal and legume seeds. Certain fruit plants, vegetables and fodder crops are also used. The majority of studies is focused on developing vaccines against viral animal diseases, such as rabies, parvovirus, bovine viral diarrhea, Newcastle disease, avian flu and swine flu. Despite very incentive results of some studies, no veterinary transgenic plant vaccine is as of yet commercially available. With the development of new techniques that reduce the potential risks of using such vaccines and willingness of regulatory agencies to accept transgenic plant vaccines, we are approaching a brighter future regarding animal disease control.
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