Patent Pending
UC Berkeley researchers have developed variant Listeria bacteria that have one or more nucleic acids that encode polypeptides required for isoprenoid synthesis through the non-mevalonate pathway, wherein the Listeria bacterium grows aerobically in the presence or absence of a functional mevalonate pathway. The Listeria strain can be used to induce enhanced activation and expansion of human gamma delta T-cells and have been shown to do so in vitro.