The present invention relates to the production and use of covalently closed circular (ccc) recombinant DNA molecules such as plasmids, cosmids, bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), bacteriophages, viral vectors and hybrids thereof, and more particularly to vector modifications that improve expression of said DNA molecules.

The present invention relates to the production and use of covalently closed circular (ccc) recombinant plasmids, and more particularly to vector modifications that improve expression of said DNA molecules in the target organism.

The invention provides hybrid and recombinant phagemid vectors for expressing a transgene in a target cell transduced with the vector. A recombinant phagemid particle comprises at least one transgene expression cassette which encodes an agent which exerts a biological effect on the target cell, characterised in that the phagemid particle comprises a genome which lacks at least 50% of its bacteriophage genome. The invention extends to the use of such phagemid expression systems as a research tool, and for the delivery of transgenes in a variety of gene therapy applications, DNA and/or peptide vaccine delivery and imaging techniques. The invention extends to in vitro, in vivo or in situ methods for producing viral vectors, such as recombinant adeno-associated viruses (rAAV) or lentivirus vectors (rLV), and to genetic constructs used in such methods.

The present invention relates to the production and use of covalently closed circular (ccc) recombinant DNA molecules such as plasmids, cosmids, bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), bacteriophages, viral vectors and hybrids thereof, and more particularly to vector modifications that improve expression of said DNA molecules.

A eukaryotic replicative pUC-free minicircle expression vector is provided. The eukaryotic replicative pUC-free minicircle expression vector includes a pUC-free eukaryotic region sequence encoding a transgene of interest and comprising 5 and 3 ends and ii) a pUC-free spacer region of less than 500 basepairs in length linking the 5 and 3 ends of the eukaryotic region sequences and comprising a bacterial R6K replication origin having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 11 or SEQ ID NO: 12 and a RNA selectable marker, the RNA selectable marker being an RNA-IN regulating RNA-OUT functional variant having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:20 or SEQ ID NO:22.

The present invention discloses an engineered bacteriophage capable of binding to a commensal bacterium and inserting its genome polynucleotide into the commensal bacterium, but incapable of producing progeny, incapable of carrying out a lysogenic cycle and incapable of carrying out a lytic cycle within the commensal bacterium, wherein the engineered bacteriophage comprises a genome polynucleotide including at least one gene encoding at least one heterologous antigen(s) under the control of a promoter.

The present invention relates to mutant strains of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and to a method for preparing them. It also relates to carrier vectors which are used in said method, to vaccine compositions and to vaccination kits comprising the compositions against porcine enzootic pneumonia and other swine diseases. It also relates to the use of M. hyopneumoniae as a host for expressing recombinant proteins and other DNA sequences of interest.

The present invention relates to the production and use of covalently closed circular (ccc) recombinant DNA molecules such as plasmids, cosmids, bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), bacteriophages, viral vectors and hybrids thereof, and more particularly to vector modifications that improve expression of these DNA molecules.

The present invention provides a plant or plant part comprising a polynucleotide encoding a wildtype or mutant TriA polypeptide, the expression of said polynucleotide confers to the plant or plant part tolerance to herbicides.

Methods and compositions are provided for durably influencing microbiological ecosystems (microbiomes) in a subject in order to prevent infection and reduce recurrence of infection by microorganisms. In some embodiments, compositions and methods are provided for the creation and use of molecularly-modified bacterial strains with the potential to prevent a variety of microorganism infections.