Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), which is caused by the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), has occurred worldwide and poses a serious threat to the pig industry. Intestine is the main function site of PEDV; therefore, it is important to develop an oral mucosal immunity vaccine against this virus infection. Most traditional plasmid delivery vectors use antibiotic genes as a selective marker, easily leading to antibiotic accumulation and gene contamination. In this study, to explore whether the alanine racemase gene (Alr) could be used as a screening marker and develop an efficient oral vaccine against PEDV infection, a recombinant strain was constructed using Lactobacillus casei with Alr deletion (L. casei ΔAlr W56) to deliver the Alr gene and a core-neutralizing epitope (COE) antigen. This recombinant bacterium efficiently induced secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA)-based mucosal and immunoglobulin G (IgG)-based humoral immune responses via oral vaccination in mice. Compared to the other strains, the recombinant bacteria were able to grow without the addition of D-alanine, revealing that Alr in the plasmid could function normally in defective bacteria. This oral mucosal vaccine would provide a useful strategy to substitute the application of antibiotics in the future and induce efficient immune responses against PEDV infection.
Keywords: Lactobacillus casei; PEDV COE antigen; alanine racemase gene; oral mucosal vaccine.