Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, are working on transferring the technology from Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines to edible plants. They hope to cultivate vegetables that can provide vaccines using the same mRNA technology utilized in the development of COVID-19 vaccines.
Plants can be digested more easily than a vaccine injection, and transportation and storage would also be simplified since traditional vaccines must be kept at extremely low temperatures to avoid damage. If this experiment succeeds, these plants could benefit low-income countries, as they are easier to store and transport compared to the current COVID-19 vaccine doses.
The mRNA technology in Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has existed for a long time but has rarely been used in medicine until recently. It works by providing instructions to the body on how to produce spike proteins that fuel COVID-19 infections. Once a person's immune system detects the protein, it will fight it off and build immunity against the proteins if they appear again in the body through exposure to the virus. Companies are now applying this technology to other vaccines, including the annual influenza vaccine.
Juan Pablo Gerald, the lead researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, stated, “Ideally, one plant produces enough mRNA to vaccinate one person, and we are testing this approach with spinach and lettuce, with long-term goals for people to grow these plants in their own gardens, allowing farmers to eventually cultivate entire fields of them.”
Researchers believe that chloroplasts within the cells can carry genes that are not usually part of the plant, which means this part of the plant holds significant potential. The team is working to discover the optimal way to introduce the mRNA into the chloroplasts without damaging them. If these experiments are successful, it may be possible to administer COVID-19 and other mRNA vaccines orally, according to the Daily Mail.
