The Engineered Chloroplast Genome Just Got Smarter

Oral Delivery of Protein Drugs Bioencapsulated in Plant Cells

Plants cells are now approved by the FDA for cost-effective production of protein drugs (PDs) in large-scale current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) hydroponic growth facilities. In lyophilized plant cells, PDs are stable at ambient temperature for several years, maintaining their folding and efficacy. Upon oral delivery, PDs bioencapsulated in plant cells are protected in the stomach from acids and enzymes but are subsequently released into the gut lumen by microbes that digest the plant cell wall. The large mucosal area of the human intestine offers an ideal system for oral drug delivery. When tags (receptor-binding proteins or cell-penetrating peptides) are fused to PDs, they efficiently cross the intestinal epithelium and are delivered to the circulatory or immune system. Unique tags to deliver PDs to human immune or nonimmune cells have been developed recently. After crossing the epithelium, ubiquitous proteases cleave off tags at engineered sites. PDs are also delivered to the brain or retina by crossing the blood–brain or retinal barriers. This review highlights recent advances in PD delivery to treat Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, hypertension, Gaucher's or ocular diseases, as well as the development of affordable drugs by eliminating prohibitively expensive purification, cold chain and sterile delivery.

The case for plant-made veterinary immunotherapeutics

The excessive use of antibiotics in food animal production has contributed to resistance in pathogenic bacteria, thereby triggering regulations and consumer demands to limit their use. Alternatives for disease control are therefore required that are cost-effective and compatible with intensive production. While vaccines are widely used and effective, they are available against a minority of animal diseases, and development of novel vaccines and other immunotherapeutics is therefore needed. Production of such proteins recombinantly in plants can provide products that are effective and safe, can be orally administered with minimal processing, and are easily scalable with a relatively low capital investment. The present report thus advocates the use of plants for producing vaccines and antibodies to protect farm animals from diseases that have thus far been managed with antibiotics; and highlights recent advances in product efficacy, competitiveness, and regulatory approval.

Low cost delivery of proteins bioencapsulated in plant cells to human non-immune or immune modulatory cells

Targeted oral delivery of GFP fused with a GM1 receptor binding protein (CTB) or human cell penetrating peptide (PTD) or dendritic cell peptide (DCpep) was investigated. Presence of GFP(+) intact plant cells between villi of ileum confirm their protection in the digestive system from acids/enzymes. Efficient delivery of GFP to gut-epithelial cells by PTD or CTB and to M cells by all these fusion tags confirm uptake of GFP in the small intestine. PTD fusion delivered GFP more efficiently to most tissues or organs than the other two tags. GFP was efficiently delivered to the liver by all fusion tags, likely through the gut-liver axis. In confocal imaging studies of human cell lines using purified GFP fused with different tags, GFP signal of DCpep-GFP was only detected within dendritic cells. PTD-GFP was only detected within kidney or pancreatic cells but not in immune modulatory cells (macrophages, dendritic, T, B, or mast cells). In contrast, CTB-GFP was detected in all tested cell types, confirming ubiquitous presence of GM1 receptors. Such low-cost oral delivery of protein drugs to sera, immune system or non-immune cells should dramatically lower their cost by elimination of prohibitively expensive fermentation, protein purification cold storage/transportation and increase patient compliance.

Need of cost-effective vaccines in developing countries: What plant biotechnology can offer?

To treat current infectious diseases, different therapies are used that include drugs or vaccines or both. Currently, the world is facing an increasing problem of drug resistance from many pathogenic microorganisms. In majority of cases, when vaccines are used, formulations consist of live attenuated microorganisms. This poses an additional risk of infection in immunocompromised patients and people suffering from malnutrition in developing countries. Therefore, there is need to improve drug therapy as well as to develop next generation vaccines, in particular against infectious diseases with highest mortality rates. For patients in developing countries, costs related to treatments are one of the major hurdles to reduce the disease burden. In many cases, use of prophylactic vaccines can help to control the incidence of infectious diseases. In the present review, we describe some infectious diseases with high impact on health of people in low and middle income countries. We discuss the prospects of plants as alternative platform for the development of next-generation subunit vaccines that can be a cost-effective source for mass immunization of people in developing countries.

Complete Chloroplast Genome of Nicotiana otophora and its Comparison with Related Species

Nicotiana otophora is a wild parental species of Nicotiana tabacum, an interspecific hybrid of Nicotiana tomentosiformis and Nicotiana sylvestris. However, N. otophora is least understood as an alternative paternal donor. Here, we compared the fully assembled chloroplast (cp) genome of N. otophora and with those of closely related species. The analysis showed a cp genome size of 156,073 bp and exhibited a typical quadripartite structure, which contains a pair of inverted repeats separated by small and large single copies, containing 163 representative genes, with 165 microsatellites distributed unevenly throughout the genome. Comparative analysis of a gene with known function across Nicotiana species revealed 76 protein-coding sequences, 20 tRNA sequences, and 3 rRNA sequence shared between the cp genomes. The analysis revealed that N. otophora is a sister species to N. tomentosiformis within the Nicotiana genus, and Atropha belladonna and Datura stramonium are their closest relatives. These findings provide a valuable analysis of the complete N. otophora cp genome, which can identify species, elucidate taxonomy, and reconstruct the phylogeny of genus Nicotiana.

Low cost industrial production of coagulation factor IX bioencapsulated in lettuce cells for oral tolerance induction in hemophilia B

Antibodies (inhibitors) developed by hemophilia B patients against coagulation factor IX (FIX) are challenging to eliminate because of anaphylaxis or nephrotic syndrome after continued infusion. To address this urgent unmet medical need, FIX fused with a transmucosal carrier (CTB) was produced in a commercial lettuce (Simpson Elite) cultivar using species specific chloroplast vectors regulated by endogenous psbA sequences. CTB-FIX (∼1 mg/g) in lyophilized cells was stable with proper folding, disulfide bonds and pentamer assembly when stored ∼2 years at ambient temperature. Feeding lettuce cells to hemophilia B mice delivered CTB-FIX efficiently to the gut immune system, induced LAP(+) regulatory T cells and suppressed inhibitor/IgE formation and anaphylaxis against FIX. Lyophilized cells enabled 10-fold dose escalation studies and successful induction of oral tolerance was observed in all tested doses. Induction of tolerance in such a broad dose range should enable oral delivery to patients of different age groups and diverse genetic background. Using Fraunhofer cGMP hydroponic system, ∼870 kg fresh or 43.5 kg dry weight can be harvested per 1000 ft(2) per annum yielding 24,000-36,000 doses for 20-kg pediatric patients, enabling first commercial development of an oral drug, addressing prohibitively expensive purification, cold storage/transportation and short shelf life of current protein drugs.