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methods of applying DNA vaccines: needle inoculation; electroporation, which is using a current to create pores in cell membranes for DNA to pass through; and use of a ‘gene gun’, a device that propels DNA-coat-ed gold particles directly into live cells. All three methods elicit differ-ent cellular reactions because they may stimulate, or bypass, important immunological pathways that lead to immunity.

Then there is the site of injection: what’s good on one animal, such as the ears of a pig, doesn’t work for other livestock such as sheep or cows.

Yet another way to tinker with the effi cacy of the DNA vaccine is to add other biological ingredients into the mix. These take the form of short se-quences of DNA or protein (peptides) called prime boosts that can increase antibody numbers, as well as their ac-tivity and persistence. Recombinant (from engineered bacteria) proteins or viruses can also induce better im-

mune responses when used in con-junction with DNA vaccines, activating new classes of immune cells into the fi ght.

Professor Pete Kaiser at the Ros-lin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, which also receives strategic funding from BBSRC, said DNA vaccination could provide several advantages over conventional vaccines.

“Multi-component vaccines could reduce the number of vaccinations required during a bird’s short life and the incorporation of immunostimula-tory molecules could direct and en-hance protective immune responses,” he said. “Evoking more appropriate immune responses could avoid the risk of driving some pathogens to in-creasing virulence.”

Final frontierDNA vaccines for cows and chickens may be some way from commercial reality, but their potential benefi ts — ease of making DNA, reactivity, ther-

mostability, theoretical low cost, and proven effectiveness in other animals — means that further research will continue.

BBSRC noted that there are other benefi ts specifi c to certain animals and diseases. For instance, limitations of the current FMD vaccine include a lack of induction of sterile immunity; this is where in persistently infected animals, replicating FMD virus can be found in the samples of oropharyngeal fl uid taken from the back of the throat, in either vaccinated or non-vaccinated animals, that have been exposed to the virus.

“The current FMD vaccine pre-vents clinical signs of the disease but doesn’t stop this sub-clinical replica-tion going on in this area,” Barnett said. “The fact that replicating virus can be isolated from these animals has always been a cause of concern, particularly to other countries that want to trade in animals and animal products.”

This means that vaccinated and

non-vaccinated animals cannot be distinguished, which can hamper control strategies. It also restricts the movement of animals, which is a ma-jor economic consideration at local, regional and global levels. DNA vac-cines could, in theory, see an end to this problem.

Development of DNA vaccines is still a relatively young fi eld, com-pared to the fi rst FMD vaccine that was developed in Germany in 1937. However, in the age of genomics where DNA can be sequenced and created more quickly, accurately and cheaper than ever before, and where safety and handling live pathogens will always be fraught with risk and diffi culty, further research on DNA vaccines is surely a worthwhile pur-suit when addressing modern food security, animal health and perhaps even human healthcare challenges, BBSRC concluded. ■

protect animal health

other EU member states this month. At the end of August, ministers for European affairs are scheduled to meet informally in Nicosia, Cyprus, to push talks on the long-term bud-get ahead. The only item on the ministers’ agenda is the MFF bud-get.

The plan is to move closer to an agreement in September with tough bargaining left to a summit of EU heads of government scheduled for

Oct. 18-19.Barroso told lawmakers that in

order to complete work on the long-term budget, the EU government also needs to reach agreement on specifi c policies like the CAP.

“The negotiations on the MFF are a package. In parallel to the overall framework, negotiations must be brought to an end on the sectoral proposals on the main European Common Policies,” Barroso said.

“These policies lie at the heart of our efforts to support growth and employment. For this reason, we need in parallel to make substantial progress on the next generation of structural funds, on the reform of the CAP, the Common Fisheries Policy, Horizon 2020 for research and inno-vation, the Connecting Europe Facil-ity and the relevant Trans-European Networks.” ■

By IAN ELLIOTT

THE European Union will face criti-cal months ahead as lawmakers de-cide where the trade bloc will take its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after it decides on the budget for the 2014-20 period.

Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, the president of the European Commis-sion, told the EU’s Parliament July 4 that lawmakers need to push to complete the long-term budget — in European jargon the “Multi-annual fi nancial framework” (MFF) — by year’s end.

“Let us do our utmost to reach agreement on the MFF by the end of this year. I know that it is extremely challenging but it is possible,” Bar-roso told Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in Strasbourg, France.

“This would send a clear signal that when it comes to growth, we are committed to action not limit-ed to rhetoric. Reaching a deal by the end of the year — not any deal, I mean, a good or even, why not, a very good deal — would mean a great service for the EU as a whole. And it would mean a success for the Cyprus Presidency.”

The government of Cyprus took over the EU six-month Presidency on July 1.

The EU is in the midst of trying to fi gure out what it wants to do with the CAP. The policy takes a large share of the EU’s annual budget, a budget that is increasingly stretched by the bloc’s government’s efforts to deal with economic problems.

The commission made its proposal last year on the funding needed to fi -nance the CAP through 2020, propos-ing some cuts.

EU heads of government have al-ready agreed on the year-end dead-line. The government of Cyprus laid out a work plan to meet this deadline.

Cyprus’ Ambassador K. Korneliou told other EU ambassadors July 3 that the government plans to stick to the end of year deadline, while rec-ognizing the principle that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Korneliou explained that offi cials from Cyprus would be meeting

Critical months ahead for EU’s CAP

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