May tomatoes hit the Achilles heel of HIV?

HIV is a growing problem globally which continues to cause a significant amount of deaths. This has motivated thousands of researchers to battle against this virus. Now, one armed with a tomato has begun to turn some heads.

Developing an effective HIV drug or vaccine is not the only challenge that researchers face. Once a drug or vaccine exists other barriers often stand in the way of delivering the needed medication to developing countries, such as: insufficient infrastructures, logistical problems and the lack of adequate medical care.

Dr. Ramirez and his team enhanced the genome of a tomato in a way that allows the fruit to act as a vaccine. The tomato is able to function as a vaccine, because it was given the ability to synthesize an HIV protein called Tat.

The results of this approach to find a new vaccine against HIV show that plant are steadily playing a more important role in producing inexpensive and effective vaccines.read more