METHOD FOR IMPROVING THE STABILITY OF THE VECTOR POTEXV??RUS

The invention provides a method of producing a potexviral vector for expressing a protein of interest in a plant， comprising producing a second heterologous nucleic acid comprising a second ORF encoding said protein and having， in the second ORF， an increased GC-content compared to a first ORF encoding said protein in a first heterologous nucleic acid， and providing said potexviral vector comprising the following segments: (i) a nucleic acid sequence segment encoding a potexviral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase， (ii) a nucleic acid sequence comprising or encoding a potexviral triple-gene block， and (iii) said second heterologous nucleic acid or a portion thereof comprising said second ORF. The invention provides a method of producing a potexviral vector for expressing a protein of interest in a plant， comprising producing a second heterologous nucleic acid comprising a second ORF encoding said protein and having， in the second ORF， an increased GC-content compared to a first ORF encoding said protein in a first heterologous nucleic acid， and providing said potexviral vector comprising the following segments: (i) a nucleic acid sequence segment encoding a potexviral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase， (ii) a nucleic acid sequence comprising or encoding a potexviral triple-gene block， and (iii) said second heterologous nucleic acid or a portion thereof comprising said second ORF.