Purification of Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) from Plants

Albertha R van Zyl; Inga I Hitzeroth

doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3389-1_37

Purification of Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) from Plants

Methods Mol Biol. 2016:1404:569-579. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3389-1_37.

Authors

Albertha R van Zyl¹, Inga I Hitzeroth²

Affiliations

¹ Biopharming Research Unit, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa.
² Biopharming Research Unit, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7700, South Africa. inga.hitzeroth@uct.ac.za.

PMID: 27076323
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3389-1_37

Abstract

Viral coat proteins expressed in plants often form virus-like particles (VLPs) which are good vaccine candidates as they are safe and highly immunogenic and can be easily purified. The VLPs can be purified by rate-zonal density centrifugation which is based on the size of the VLP or they can be purified by isopycnic centrifugation which is a fast and simple method and results in isolation of VLPs with the same density. Details on how to apply both rate-zonal and isopycnic centrifugation for VLP purification from plants are provided in this chapter.

Keywords: Centrifugation; Isopycnic; Plants; Rate-zonal; VLPs; Virus-like particles.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Capsid Proteins / genetics*
Capsid Proteins / isolation & purification*
Centrifugation / methods*
Plants / genetics*

Substances

Capsid Proteins