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Ghandour R, Gao Y, Laskowski J, Barahimipour R, Ruf S, Bock R, Zoschke R. Transgene insertion into the plastid genome alters expression of adjacent native chloroplast genes at the transcriptional and translational levels. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2023; 21:711-725. [PMID: 36529916 PMCID: PMC10037153 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
In plant biotechnology and basic research, chloroplasts have been used as chassis for the expression of various transgenes. However, potential unintended side effects of transgene insertion and high-level transgene expression on the expression of native chloroplast genes are often ignored and have not been studied comprehensively. Here, we examined expression of the chloroplast genome at both the transcriptional and translational levels in five transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) lines carrying the identical aadA resistance marker cassette in diverse genomic positions. Although none of the lines exhibits a pronounced visible phenotype, the analysis of three lines that contain the aadA insertion in different locations within the petL-petG-psaJ-rpl33-rps18 transcription unit demonstrates that transcriptional read-through from the aadA resistance marker is unavoidable, and regularly causes overexpression of downstream sense-oriented chloroplast genes at the transcriptional and translational levels. Investigation of additional lines that harbour the aadA intergenically and outside of chloroplast transcription units revealed that expression of the resistance marker can also cause antisense effects by interference with transcription/transcript accumulation and/or translation of downstream antisense-oriented genes. In addition, we provide evidence for a previously suggested role of genomically encoded tRNAs in chloroplast transcription termination and/or transcript processing. Together, our data uncover principles of neighbouring effects of chloroplast transgenes and suggest general strategies for the choice of transgene insertion sites and expression elements to minimize unintended consequences of transgene expression on the transcription and translation of native chloroplast genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rabea Ghandour
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | - Yang Gao
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | | | | | - Stephanie Ruf
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | - Reimo Zoschke
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
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2
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Su H, van Eerde A, Rimstad E, Bock R, Branza-Nichita N, Yakovlev IA, Clarke JL. Plant-made vaccines against viral diseases in humans and farm animals. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2023; 14:1170815. [PMID: 37056490 PMCID: PMC10086147 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1170815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Plants provide not only food and feed, but also herbal medicines and various raw materials for industry. Moreover, plants can be green factories producing high value bioproducts such as biopharmaceuticals and vaccines. Advantages of plant-based production platforms include easy scale-up, cost effectiveness, and high safety as plants are not hosts for human and animal pathogens. Plant cells perform many post-translational modifications that are present in humans and animals and can be essential for biological activity of produced recombinant proteins. Stimulated by progress in plant transformation technologies, substantial efforts have been made in both the public and the private sectors to develop plant-based vaccine production platforms. Recent promising examples include plant-made vaccines against COVID-19 and Ebola. The COVIFENZ® COVID-19 vaccine produced in Nicotiana benthamiana has been approved in Canada, and several plant-made influenza vaccines have undergone clinical trials. In this review, we discuss the status of vaccine production in plants and the state of the art in downstream processing according to good manufacturing practice (GMP). We discuss different production approaches, including stable transgenic plants and transient expression technologies, and review selected applications in the area of human and veterinary vaccines. We also highlight specific challenges associated with viral vaccine production for different target organisms, including lower vertebrates (e.g., farmed fish), and discuss future perspectives for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Su
- Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health, NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås, Norway
| | - André van Eerde
- Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health, NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås, Norway
| | - Espen Rimstad
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ralph Bock
- Department III, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Norica Branza-Nichita
- Department of Viral Glycoproteins, Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania
| | - Igor A. Yakovlev
- Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health, NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås, Norway
| | - Jihong Liu Clarke
- Division of Biotechnology and Plant Health, NIBIO - Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås, Norway
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3
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Expression strategies for the efficient synthesis of antimicrobial peptides in plastids. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5856. [PMID: 36195597 PMCID: PMC9532397 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33516-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) kill microbes or inhibit their growth and are promising next-generation antibiotics. Harnessing their full potential as antimicrobial agents will require methods for cost-effective large-scale production and purification. Here, we explore the possibility to exploit the high protein synthesis capacity of the chloroplast to produce AMPs in plants. Generating a large series of 29 sets of transplastomic tobacco plants expressing nine different AMPs as fusion proteins, we show that high-level constitutive AMP expression results in deleterious plant phenotypes. However, by utilizing inducible expression and fusions to the cleavable carrier protein SUMO, the cytotoxic effects of AMPs and fused AMPs are alleviated and plants with wild-type-like phenotypes are obtained. Importantly, purified AMP fusion proteins display antimicrobial activity independently of proteolytic removal of the carrier. Our work provides expression strategies for the synthesis of toxic polypeptides in chloroplasts, and establishes transplastomic plants as efficient production platform for antimicrobial peptides.
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He W, Baysal C, Lobato Gómez M, Huang X, Alvarez D, Zhu C, Armario‐Najera V, Blanco Perera A, Cerda Bennaser P, Saba‐Mayoral A, Sobrino‐Mengual G, Vargheese A, Abranches R, Alexandra Abreu I, Balamurugan S, Bock R, Buyel JF, da Cunha NB, Daniell H, Faller R, Folgado A, Gowtham I, Häkkinen ST, Kumar S, Sathish Kumar R, Lacorte C, Lomonossoff GP, Luís IM, K.‐C. Ma J, McDonald KA, Murad A, Nandi S, O’Keef B, Parthiban S, Paul MJ, Ponndorf D, Rech E, Rodrigues JC, Ruf S, Schillberg S, Schwestka J, Shah PS, Singh R, Stoger E, Twyman RM, Varghese IP, Vianna GR, Webster G, Wilbers RHP, Christou P, Oksman‐Caldentey K, Capell T. Contributions of the international plant science community to the fight against infectious diseases in humans-part 2: Affordable drugs in edible plants for endemic and re-emerging diseases. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2021; 19:1921-1936. [PMID: 34181810 PMCID: PMC8486237 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.13658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 06/10/2021] [Accepted: 06/22/2021] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The fight against infectious diseases often focuses on epidemics and pandemics, which demand urgent resources and command attention from the health authorities and media. However, the vast majority of deaths caused by infectious diseases occur in endemic zones, particularly in developing countries, placing a disproportionate burden on underfunded health systems and often requiring international interventions. The provision of vaccines and other biologics is hampered not only by the high cost and limited scalability of traditional manufacturing platforms based on microbial and animal cells, but also by challenges caused by distribution and storage, particularly in regions without a complete cold chain. In this review article, we consider the potential of molecular farming to address the challenges of endemic and re-emerging diseases, focusing on edible plants for the development of oral drugs. Key recent developments in this field include successful clinical trials based on orally delivered dried leaves of Artemisia annua against malarial parasite strains resistant to artemisinin combination therapy, the ability to produce clinical-grade protein drugs in leaves to treat infectious diseases and the long-term storage of protein drugs in dried leaves at ambient temperatures. Recent FDA approval of the first orally delivered protein drug encapsulated in plant cells to treat peanut allergy has opened the door for the development of affordable oral drugs that can be manufactured and distributed in remote areas without cold storage infrastructure and that eliminate the need for expensive purification steps and sterile delivery by injection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenshu He
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Can Baysal
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Maria Lobato Gómez
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Xin Huang
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Derry Alvarez
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Changfu Zhu
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Victoria Armario‐Najera
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Aamaya Blanco Perera
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Pedro Cerda Bennaser
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Andrea Saba‐Mayoral
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | | | - Ashwin Vargheese
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
| | - Rita Abranches
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António XavierUniversidade Nova de LisboaOeirasPortugal
| | - Isabel Alexandra Abreu
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António XavierUniversidade Nova de LisboaOeirasPortugal
| | - Shanmugaraj Balamurugan
- Plant Genetic Engineering LaboratoryDepartment of BiotechnologyBharathiar UniversityTamil NaduIndia
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | - Johannes F. Buyel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IMEAachenGermany
- Institute for Molecular BiotechnologyRWTH Aachen UniversityAachenGermany
| | - Nicolau B. da Cunha
- Centro de Análise Proteômicas e Bioquímicas de BrasíliaUniversidade Católica de BrasíliaBrasíliaBrazil
| | - Henry Daniell
- School of Dental MedicineUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPAUSA
| | - Roland Faller
- Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
| | - André Folgado
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António XavierUniversidade Nova de LisboaOeirasPortugal
| | - Iyappan Gowtham
- Plant Genetic Engineering LaboratoryDepartment of BiotechnologyBharathiar UniversityTamil NaduIndia
| | - Suvi T. Häkkinen
- Industrial Biotechnology and Food SolutionsVTT Technical Research Centre of Finland LtdEspooFinland
| | - Shashi Kumar
- International Centre for Genetic Engineering and BiotechnologyNew DelhiIndia
| | - Ramalingam Sathish Kumar
- Plant Genetic Engineering LaboratoryDepartment of BiotechnologyBharathiar UniversityTamil NaduIndia
| | - Cristiano Lacorte
- Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationEmbrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and National Institute of Science and Technology Synthetic in Biology, Parque Estação BiológicaBrasiliaBrazil
| | | | - Ines M. Luís
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António XavierUniversidade Nova de LisboaOeirasPortugal
| | - Julian K.‐C. Ma
- Institute for Infection and ImmunitySt. George’s University of LondonLondonUK
| | - Karen A. McDonald
- Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
- Global HealthShare InitiativeUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
| | - Andre Murad
- Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationEmbrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and National Institute of Science and Technology Synthetic in Biology, Parque Estação BiológicaBrasiliaBrazil
| | - Somen Nandi
- Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
- Global HealthShare InitiativeUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
| | - Barry O’Keef
- Division of Cancer Treatment and DiagnosisMolecular Targets ProgramCenter for Cancer ResearchNational Cancer Institute, and Natural Products Branch, Developmental Therapeutics ProgramNational Cancer Institute, NIHFrederickMDUSA
| | - Subramanian Parthiban
- Plant Genetic Engineering LaboratoryDepartment of BiotechnologyBharathiar UniversityTamil NaduIndia
| | - Mathew J. Paul
- Institute for Infection and ImmunitySt. George’s University of LondonLondonUK
| | - Daniel Ponndorf
- Department of Biological ChemistryJohn Innes CentreNorwich Research Park, NorwichUK
| | - Elibio Rech
- Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationEmbrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and National Institute of Science and Technology Synthetic in Biology, Parque Estação BiológicaBrasiliaBrazil
| | - Julio C.M. Rodrigues
- Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationEmbrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and National Institute of Science and Technology Synthetic in Biology, Parque Estação BiológicaBrasiliaBrazil
| | - Stephanie Ruf
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant PhysiologyPotsdam‐GolmGermany
| | - Stefan Schillberg
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IMEAachenGermany
- Institute for PhytopathologyJustus‐Liebig‐University GiessenGiessenGermany
| | - Jennifer Schwestka
- Institute of Plant Biotechnology and Cell BiologyUniversity of Natural Resources and Life SciencesViennaAustria
| | - Priya S. Shah
- Department of Chemical EngineeringUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular GeneticsUniversity of California, DavisDavisCAUSA
| | - Rahul Singh
- School of Dental MedicineUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPAUSA
| | - Eva Stoger
- Institute of Plant Biotechnology and Cell BiologyUniversity of Natural Resources and Life SciencesViennaAustria
| | | | - Inchakalody P. Varghese
- Plant Genetic Engineering LaboratoryDepartment of BiotechnologyBharathiar UniversityTamil NaduIndia
| | - Giovanni R. Vianna
- Brazilian Agriculture Research CorporationEmbrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology and National Institute of Science and Technology Synthetic in Biology, Parque Estação BiológicaBrasiliaBrazil
| | - Gina Webster
- Institute for Infection and ImmunitySt. George’s University of LondonLondonUK
| | - Ruud H. P. Wilbers
- Laboratory of NematologyPlant Sciences GroupWageningen University and ResearchWageningenThe Netherlands
| | - Paul Christou
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
- ICREACatalan Institute for Research and Advanced StudiesBarcelonaSpain
| | | | - Teresa Capell
- Department of Crop and Forest SciencesUniversity of Lleida‐Agrotecnio CERCA CenterLleidaSpain
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5
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Sørensen M, Møller BL. Metabolic Engineering of Photosynthetic Cells – in Collaboration with Nature. Metab Eng 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/9783527823468.ch21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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6
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Malla A, Rosales-Mendoza S, Phoolcharoen W, Vimolmangkang S. Efficient Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins Using DNA Viral Vectors in Freshwater Microalgal Species. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2021; 12:650820. [PMID: 33897742 PMCID: PMC8058379 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.650820] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
The increase in the world population, the advent of new infections and health issues, and the scarcity of natural biological products have spotlighted the importance of recombinant protein technology and its large-scale production in a cost-effective manner. Microalgae have become a significant promising platform with the potential to meet the increasing demand for recombinant proteins and other biologicals. Microalgae are safe organisms that can grow rapidly and are easily cultivated with basic nutrient requirements. Although continuous efforts have led to considerable progress in the algae genetic engineering field, there are still many hurdles to overcome before these microorganisms emerge as a mature expression system. Hence, there is a need to develop efficient expression approaches to exploit microalgae for the production of recombinant proteins at convenient yields. This study aimed to test the ability of the DNA geminiviral vector with Rep-mediated replication to transiently express recombinant proteins in the freshwater microalgal species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlorella vulgaris using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) are representative antigen proteins and growth factor proteins, respectively, that were subcloned in a geminiviral vector and were used for nuclear transformation to transiently express these proteins in C. reinhardtii and C. vulgaris. The results showed that the geminiviral vector allowed the expression of both recombinant proteins in both algal species, with yields at 48 h posttransformation of up to 1.14 μg/g RBD and 1.61 ng/g FGF in C. vulgaris and 1.61 μg/g RBD and 1.025 ng/g FGF in C. reinhardtii. Thus, this study provides a proof of concept for the use of DNA viral vectors for the simple, rapid, and efficient production of recombinant proteins that repress the difficulties faced in the genetic transformation of these unicellular green microalgae. This concept opens an avenue to explore and optimize green microalgae as an ideal economically valuable platform for the production of therapeutic and industrially relevant recombinant proteins in shorter time periods with significant yields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashwini Malla
- Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Research Unit for Plant-Produced Pharmaceuticals, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Sergio Rosales-Mendoza
- Laboratorio de Biofarmacéuticos Recombinantes, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
- Sección de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud y Biomedicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
| | - Waranyoo Phoolcharoen
- Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Research Unit for Plant-Produced Pharmaceuticals, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
| | - Sornkanok Vimolmangkang
- Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Research Unit for Plant-Produced Pharmaceuticals, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
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8
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Jareonsin S, Pumas C. Advantages of Heterotrophic Microalgae as a Host for Phytochemicals Production. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2021; 9:628597. [PMID: 33644020 PMCID: PMC7907617 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.628597] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Currently, most commercial recombinant technologies rely on host systems. However, each host has their own benefits and drawbacks, depending on the target products. Prokaryote host is lack of post-transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms, making them unsuitable for eukaryotic productions like phytochemicals. Even there are other eukaryote hosts (e.g., transgenic animals, mammalian cell, and transgenic plants), but those hosts have some limitations, such as low yield, high cost, time consuming, virus contamination, and so on. Thus, flexible platforms and efficient methods that can produced phytochemicals are required. The use of heterotrophic microalgae as a host system is interesting because it possibly overcome those obstacles. This paper presents a comprehensive review of heterotrophic microalgal expression host including advantages of heterotrophic microalgae as a host, genetic engineering of microalgae, genetic transformation of microalgae, microalgal engineering for phytochemicals production, challenges of microalgal hosts, key market trends, and future view. Finally, this review might be a directions of the alternative microalgae host for high-value phytochemicals production in the next few years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Surumpa Jareonsin
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
| | - Chayakorn Pumas
- Research Center in Bioresources for Agriculture, Industry and Medicine, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Abstract
Expression of transgenes from the plastid genome offers a number of attractions to biotechnologists, with the potential to attain very high protein accumulation levels arguably being the most attractive one. High-level transgene expression is of particular importance in resistance engineering (e.g., for expression of insecticidal proteins) and molecular farming (e.g., for expression of pharmaceutical proteins and industrial enzymes). Over the past decades, the production of many commercially valuable proteins in chloroplast-transgenic (transplastomic) plants has been attempted, including pharmaceutical proteins (e.g., subunit vaccines and protein antibiotics) and industrial enzymes. Although in some cases, spectacularly high foreign protein accumulation levels have been obtained, expression levels were disappointingly poor in other cases. In this review, I summarize our current knowledge about the factors influencing the efficiency of plastid transgene expression, and highlight possible optimization strategies to alleviate problems with poor expression levels. I also discuss available techniques for inducible expression of chloroplast transgenes.
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Staub JM. Transformation of the Plastid Genome in Tobacco Suspension Cell Cultures. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2317:167-175. [PMID: 34028768 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1472-3_8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Chloroplast transformation has been extremely valuable for the study of plastid biology and gene expression, but the tissue culture methodology involved can be laborious and it can take several months to obtain homoplasmic regenerated plants useful for molecular or physiological studies. In contrast, transformation of tobacco suspension cell plastids provides an easy and efficient system to rapidly evaluate the efficacy of multiple constructs prior to plant regeneration. Suspension cell cultures can be initiated from many cell types, and once established, can be maintained by subculture for more than a year with no loss of transformation efficiency. Using antibiotic selection, homoplasmy is readily achieved in uniform cell colonies useful for comparative gene expression analyses, with the added flexibility to subsequently regenerate plants for in planta studies. Plastids from suspension cells grown in the dark are similar in size and cellular morphology to those in embryogenic culture systems of monocot species, thus providing a useful model for understanding the steps leading to plastid transformation in those recalcitrant species.
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Transmission of Engineered Plastids in Sugarcane, a C 4 Monocotyledonous Plant, Reveals that Sorting of Preprogrammed Progenitor Cells Produce Heteroplasmy. PLANTS 2020; 10:plants10010026. [PMID: 33374390 PMCID: PMC7830296 DOI: 10.3390/plants10010026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Revised: 11/13/2020] [Accepted: 11/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
We report here plastid transformation in sugarcane using biolistic transformation and embryogenesis-based regeneration approaches. Somatic embryos were developed from unfurled leaf sections, containing preprogrammed progenitor cells, to recover transformation events on antibiotic-containing regeneration medium. After developing a proficient regeneration system, the FLARE-S (fluorescent antibiotic resistance enzyme, spectinomycin and streptomycin) expression cassette that carries species-specific homologous sequence tails was used to transform plastids and track gene transmission and expression in sugarcane. Plants regenerated from streptomycin-resistant and genetically confirmed shoots were subjected to visual detection of the fluorescent enzyme using a fluorescent stereomicroscope, after genetic confirmation. The resultant heteroplasmic shoots remained to segregate on streptomycin-containing MS medium, referring to the unique pattern of division and sorting of cells in C4 monocotyledonous compared to C3 monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants since in sugarcane bundle sheath and mesophyll, cells are distinct and sort independently after division. Hence, the transformation of either mesophyll or bundle sheath cells will develop heteroplasmic transgenic plants, suggesting the transformation of both types of cells. Whilst developed transgenic sugarcane plants are heteroplasmic, and selection-based regeneration protocol envisaging the role of division and sorting of cells in the purification of transplastomic demands further improvement, the study has established many parameters that may open up exciting possibilities to express genes of agricultural or pharmaceutical importance in sugarcane.
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Xisto MF, Dias RS, Feitosa-Araujo E, Prates JWO, da Silva CC, de Paula SO. Efficient Plant Production of Recombinant NS1 Protein for Diagnosis of Dengue. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2020; 11:581100. [PMID: 33193526 PMCID: PMC7649140 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2020.581100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/02/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Dengue fever is endemic in more than 120 countries, which account for 3.9 billion people at risk of infection worldwide. The absence of a vaccine with effective protection against the four serotypes of this virus makes differential molecular diagnosis the key step for the correct treatment of the disease. Rapid and efficient diagnosis prevents progression to a more severe stage of this disease. Currently, the limiting factor in the manufacture of dengue (DENV) diagnostic kits is the lack of large-scale production of the non-structural 1 (NS1) protein (antigen) to be used in the capture of antibodies from the blood serum of infected patients. In this work, we use plant biotechnology and genetic engineering as tools for the study of protein production for research and commercial purposes. Gene transfer, integration and expression in plants is a valid strategy for obtaining large-scale and low-cost heterologous protein production. The authors produced NS1 protein of the dengue virus serotype 2 (NS1DENV2) in the Arabidopsis thaliana plant. Transgenic plants obtained by genetic transformation expressed the recombinant protein that was purified and characterized for diagnostic use. The yield was 203 μg of the recombinant protein per gram of fresh leaf. By in situ immunolocalization, transgenic protein was observed within the plant tissue, located in aggregates bodies. These antigens showed high sensitivity and specificity to both IgM (84.29% and 91.43%, respectively) and IgG (83.08% and 87.69%, respectively). The study goes a step further to validate the use of plants as a strategy for obtaining large-scale and efficient protein production to be used in dengue virus diagnostic tests.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Roberto Sousa Dias
- Department of General Biology, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
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Plastid Transformation: How Does it Work? Can it Be Applied to Crops? What Can it Offer? Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:ijms21144854. [PMID: 32659946 PMCID: PMC7402345 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21144854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 07/04/2020] [Accepted: 07/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, plant genetic engineering has advanced agriculture in terms of crop improvement, stress and disease resistance, and pharmaceutical biosynthesis. Cells from land plants and algae contain three organelles that harbor DNA: the nucleus, plastid, and mitochondria. Although the most common approach for many plant species is the introduction of foreign DNA into the nucleus (nuclear transformation) via Agrobacterium- or biolistics-mediated delivery of transgenes, plastid transformation offers an alternative means for plant transformation. Since there are many copies of the chloroplast genome in each cell, higher levels of protein accumulation can often be achieved from transgenes inserted in the chloroplast genome compared to the nuclear genome. Chloroplasts are therefore becoming attractive hosts for the introduction of new agronomic traits, as well as for the biosynthesis of high-value pharmaceuticals, biomaterials and industrial enzymes. This review provides a comprehensive historical and biological perspective on plastid transformation, with a focus on current and emerging approaches such as the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as DNA delivery vehicles, overexpressing morphogenic regulators to enhance regeneration ability, applying genome editing techniques to accelerate double-stranded break formation, and reconsidering protoplasts as a viable material for plastid genome engineering, even in transformation-recalcitrant species.
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Rosales-Mendoza S, Solís-Andrade KI, Márquez-Escobar VA, González-Ortega O, Bañuelos-Hernandez B. Current advances in the algae-made biopharmaceuticals field. Expert Opin Biol Ther 2020; 20:751-766. [DOI: 10.1080/14712598.2020.1739643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Rosales-Mendoza
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
- Sección de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud y Biomedicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
| | - Karla I. Solís-Andrade
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
- Sección de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud y Biomedicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
| | - Verónica A. Márquez-Escobar
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
- Sección de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud y Biomedicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
| | - Omar González-Ortega
- Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
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15
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Dubey KK, Luke GA, Knox C, Kumar P, Pletschke BI, Singh PK, Shukla P. Vaccine and antibody production in plants: developments and computational tools. Brief Funct Genomics 2019; 17:295-307. [PMID: 29982427 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/ely020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Plants as bioreactors have been widely used to express efficient vaccine antigens against viral, bacterial and protozoan infections. To date, many different plant-based expression systems have been analyzed, with a growing preference for transient expression systems. Antibody expression in diverse plant species for therapeutic applications is well known, and this review provides an overview of various aspects of plant-based biopharmaceutical production. Here, we highlight conventional and gene expression technologies in plants along with some illustrative examples. In addition, the portfolio of products that are being produced and how they relate to the success of this field are discussed. Stable and transient gene expression in plants, agrofiltration and virus infection vectors are also reviewed. Further, the present report draws attention to antibody epitope prediction using computational tools, one of the crucial steps of vaccine design. Finally, regulatory issues, biosafety and public perception of this technology are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kashyap Kumar Dubey
- Department of Biotechnology, Central University of Haryana, Jant-Pali Mahendergarh, Haryana, India.,Microbial Process Development Laboratory, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Garry A Luke
- Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST, Scotland
| | - Caroline Knox
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| | - Punit Kumar
- Microbial Process Development Laboratory, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Brett I Pletschke
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa
| | - Puneet Kumar Singh
- Enzyme Technology and Protein Bioinformatics Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
| | - Pratyoosh Shukla
- Enzyme Technology and Protein Bioinformatics Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, India
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16
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Ruf S, Forner J, Hasse C, Kroop X, Seeger S, Schollbach L, Schadach A, Bock R. High-efficiency generation of fertile transplastomic Arabidopsis plants. NATURE PLANTS 2019; 5:282-289. [PMID: 30778165 PMCID: PMC6420123 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-019-0359-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2018] [Accepted: 01/07/2019] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The development of technologies for the stable genetic transformation of plastid (chloroplast) genomes has been a boon to both basic and applied research. However, extension of the transplastomic technology to major crops and model plants has proven extremely challenging, and the species range of plastid transformation is still very much limited in that most species currently remain recalcitrant to plastid genome engineering. Here, we report an efficient plastid transformation technology for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana that relies on root-derived microcalli as a source tissue for biolistic transformation. The method produces fertile transplastomic plants at high frequency when combined with a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-generated knockout allele of a nuclear locus that enhances sensitivity to the selection agent used for isolation of transplastomic events. Our work makes the model organism of plant biology amenable to routine engineering of the plastid genome, facilitates the combination of plastid engineering with the power of Arabidopsis nuclear genetics, and informs the future development of plastid transformation protocols for other recalcitrant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Ruf
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Joachim Forner
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Claudia Hasse
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Xenia Kroop
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Stefanie Seeger
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Laura Schollbach
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Anne Schadach
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Potsdam, Germany.
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17
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Piatek AA, Lenaghan SC, Neal Stewart C. Advanced editing of the nuclear and plastid genomes in plants. PLANT SCIENCE : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PLANT BIOLOGY 2018; 273:42-49. [PMID: 29907308 DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2018.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2017] [Revised: 02/24/2018] [Accepted: 02/26/2018] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Genome editing is a powerful suite of technologies utilized in basic and applied plant research. Both nuclear and plastid genomes have been genetically engineered to alter traits in plants. While the most frequent molecular outcome of gene editing has been knockouts resulting in a simple deletion of an endogenous protein of interest from the host's proteome, new genes have been added to plant genomes and, in several instances, the sequence of endogenous genes have been targeted for a few coding changes. Targeted plant characteristics for genome editing range from single gene targets for agronomic input traits to metabolic pathways to endow novel plant function. In this paper, we review the fundamental approaches to editing nuclear and plastid genomes in plants with an emphasis on those utilizing synthetic biology. The differences between the eukaryotic-type nuclear genome and the prokaryotic-type plastid genome (plastome) in plants has profound consequences in the approaches employed to transform, edit, select transformants, and indeed, nearly all aspects of genetic engineering procedures. Thus, we will discuss the two genomes targeted for editing in plants, the toolbox used to make edits, along with strategies for future editing approaches to transform crop production and sustainability. While CRISPR/Cas9 is the current method of choice in editing nuclear genomes, the plastome is typically edited using homologous recombination approaches. A particularly promising synthetic biology approach is to replace the endogenous plastome with a 'synplastome' that is computationally designed, and synthesized and assembled in the lab, then installed into chloroplasts. The editing strategies, transformation methods, characteristics of the novel plant also affect how the genetically engineered plant may be governed and regulated. Each of these components and final products of gene editing affect the future of biotechnology and farming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka A Piatek
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA
| | - Scott C Lenaghan
- Department of Food Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA; Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA
| | - C Neal Stewart
- Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA.
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18
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Mirzaee M, Jalali-Javaran M, Moieni A, Zeinali S, Behdani M. Expression of VGRNb-PE immunotoxin in transplastomic lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2018; 97:103-112. [PMID: 29633168 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-018-0726-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2017] [Accepted: 04/03/2018] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
KEY MESSAGE This research has shown, for the first time, that plant chloroplasts are a suitable compartment for synthesizing recombinant immunotoxins and the transgenic immunotoxin efficiently causes the inhibition of VEGFR2 overexpression, cell growth and proliferation. Angiogenesis refers to the formation of new blood vessels, which resulted in the growth, invasion and metastasis of cancer. The vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) plays a major role in angiogenesis and blocking of its signaling inhibits neovascularization and tumor metastasis. Immunotoxins are promising therapeutics for targeted cancer therapy. They consist of an antibody linked to a protein toxin and are designed to specifically kill the tumor cells. In our previous study, VGRNb-PE immunotoxin protein containing anti-VEGFR2 nanobody fused to the truncated form of Pseudomonas exotoxin A has been established. Here, we expressed this immunotoxin in lettuce chloroplasts. Chloroplast genetic engineering offers several advantages, including high levels of transgene expression, multigene engineering in a single transformation event and maternal inheritance of the transgenes. Site specific integration of transgene into chloroplast genomes, and homoplasmy were confirmed. Immunotoxin levels reached up to 1.1% of total soluble protein or 33.7 µg per 100 mg of leaf tissue (fresh weight). We demonstrated that transgenic immunotoxin efficiently causes the inhibition of VEGFR2 overexpression, cell growth and proliferation. These results indicate that plant chloroplasts are a suitable compartment for synthesizing recombinant immunotoxins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malihe Mirzaee
- Department of Plant Breeding & Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 1497713111, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mokhtar Jalali-Javaran
- Department of Plant Breeding & Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 1497713111, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Ahmad Moieni
- Department of Plant Breeding & Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, P.O. Box 1497713111, Tehran, Iran
| | - Sirous Zeinali
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mahdi Behdani
- Biotechnology Research Center, Biotechnology Department, Venom & Biotherapeutics Molecules Lab., Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran
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19
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Stoffels L, Taunt HN, Charalambous B, Purton S. Synthesis of bacteriophage lytic proteins against Streptococcus pneumoniae in the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2017; 15:1130-1140. [PMID: 28160380 PMCID: PMC5552482 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2016] [Revised: 01/06/2017] [Accepted: 01/29/2017] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
There is a pressing need to develop novel antibacterial agents given the widespread antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria and the low specificity of the drugs available. Endolysins are antibacterial proteins that are produced by bacteriophage-infected cells to digest the bacterial cell wall for phage progeny release at the end of the lytic cycle. These highly efficient enzymes show a considerable degree of specificity for the target bacterium of the phage. Furthermore, the emergence of resistance against endolysins appears to be rare as the enzymes have evolved to target molecules in the cell wall that are essential for bacterial viability. Taken together, these factors make recombinant endolysins promising novel antibacterial agents. The chloroplast of the green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii represents an attractive platform for production of therapeutic proteins in general, not least due to the availability of established techniques for foreign gene expression, a lack of endotoxins or potentially infectious agents in the algal host, and low cost of cultivation. The chloroplast is particularly well suited to the production of endolysins as it mimics the native bacterial expression environment of these proteins while being devoid of their cell wall target. In this study, the endolysins Cpl-1 and Pal, specific to the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, were produced in the C. reinhardtii chloroplast. The antibacterial activity of cell lysates and the isolated endolysins was demonstrated against different serotypes of S. pneumoniae, including clinical isolates and total recombinant protein yield was quantified at ~1.3 mg/g algal dry weight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Stoffels
- Algal Biotechnology GroupInstitute of Structural and Molecular BiologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Henry N. Taunt
- Algal Biotechnology GroupInstitute of Structural and Molecular BiologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- Present address:
AlgenuityEden LaboratoryBroadmead RoadStewartbyUK
| | - Bambos Charalambous
- Research Department of InfectionUniversity College London Medical SchoolLondonUK
| | - Saul Purton
- Algal Biotechnology GroupInstitute of Structural and Molecular BiologyUniversity College LondonLondonUK
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20
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Adem M, Beyene D, Feyissa T. Recent achievements obtained by chloroplast transformation. PLANT METHODS 2017; 13:30. [PMID: 28428810 PMCID: PMC5395794 DOI: 10.1186/s13007-017-0179-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Accepted: 04/09/2017] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Chloroplasts play a great role for sustained wellbeing of life on the planet. They have the power and raw materials that can be used as sophisticated biological factories. They are rich in energy as they have lots of pigment-protein complexes capable of collecting sunlight, in sugar produced by photosynthesis and in minerals imported from the plant cell. Chloroplast genome transformation offers multiple advantages over nuclear genome which among others, include: integration of the transgene via homologus recombination that enables to eliminate gene silencing and position effect, higher level of transgene expression resulting into higher accumulations of foreign proteins, and significant reduction in environmental dispersion of the transgene due to maternal inheritance which helps to minimize the major critic of plant genetic engineering. Chloroplast genetic engineering has made fruit full progresses in the development of plants resistance to various stresses, phytoremediation of toxic metals, and production of vaccine antigens, biopharmaceuticals, biofuels, biomaterials and industrial enzymes. Although successful results have been achieved, there are still difficulties impeding full potential exploitation and expansion of chloroplast transformation technology to economical plants. These include, lack of species specific regulatory sequences, problem of selection and shoot regeneration, and massive expression of foreign genes resulting in phenotypic alterations of transplastomic plants. The aim of this review is to critically recapitulate the latest development of chloroplast transformation with special focus on the different traits of economic interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhamed Adem
- Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Department of Forestry, School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Madawalabu University, P.O. Box 247, Bale Robe, Oromiya Ethiopia
| | - Dereje Beyene
- Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Tileye Feyissa
- Department of Microbial, Cellular and Molecular Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box. 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Institute of Biotechnology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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21
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Moreno JC, Tiller N, Diez M, Karcher D, Tillich M, Schöttler MA, Bock R. Generation and characterization of a collection of knock-down lines for the chloroplast Clp protease complex in tobacco. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2017; 68:2199-2218. [PMID: 28369470 PMCID: PMC5447895 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erx066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Protein degradation in chloroplasts is carried out by a set of proteases that eliminate misfolded, damaged, or superfluous proteins. The ATP-dependent caseinolytic protease (Clp) is the most complex protease in plastids and has been implicated mainly in stromal protein degradation. In contrast, FtsH, a thylakoid membrane-associated metalloprotease, is believed to participate mainly in the degradation of thylakoidal proteins. To determine the role of specific Clp and FtsH subunits in plant growth and development, RNAi lines targeting at least one subunit of each Clp ring and FtsH were generated in tobacco. In addition, mutation of the translation initiation codon was employed to down-regulate expression of the plastid-encoded ClpP1 subunit. These protease lines cover a broad range of reductions at the transcript and protein levels of the targeted genes. A wide spectrum of phenotypes was obtained, including pigment deficiency, alterations in leaf development, leaf variegations, and impaired photosynthesis. When knock-down lines for the different protease subunits were compared, both common and specific phenotypes were observed, suggesting distinct functions of at least some subunits. Our work provides a well-characterized collection of knock-down lines for plastid proteases in tobacco and reveals the importance of the Clp protease in physiology and plant development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan C Moreno
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Nadine Tiller
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Mercedes Diez
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Daniel Karcher
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Michael Tillich
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Mark A Schöttler
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
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22
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Gottschamel J, Lössl A, Ruf S, Wang Y, Skaugen M, Bock R, Clarke JL. Production of dengue virus envelope protein domain III-based antigens in tobacco chloroplasts using inducible and constitutive expression systems. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2016; 91:497-512. [PMID: 27116001 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-016-0484-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2016] [Accepted: 04/17/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Dengue fever is a disease in many parts of the tropics and subtropics and about half the world's population is at risk of infection according to the World Health Organization. Dengue is caused by any of the four related dengue virus serotypes DEN-1, -2, -3 and -4, which are transmitted to people by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Currently there is only one vaccine (Dengvaxia(®)) available (limited to a few countries) on the market since 2015 after half a century's intensive efforts. Affordable and accessible vaccines against dengue are hence still urgently needed. The dengue envelop protein domain III (EDIII), which is capable of eliciting serotype-specific neutralizing antibodies, has become the focus for subunit vaccine development. To contribute to the development of an accessible and affordable dengue vaccine, in the current study we have used plant-based vaccine production systems to generate a dengue subunit vaccine candidate in tobacco. Chloroplast genome engineering was applied to express serotype-specific recombinant EDIII proteins in tobacco chloroplasts using both constitutive and ethanol-inducible expression systems. Expression of a tetravalent antigen fusion construct combining EDIII polypeptides from all four serotypes was also attempted. Transplastomic EDIII-expressing tobacco lines were obtained and homoplasmy was verified by Southern blot analysis. Northern blot analyses showed expression of EDIII antigen-encoding genes. EDIII protein accumulation levels varied for the different recombinant EDIII proteins and the different expression systems, and reached between 0.8 and 1.6 % of total cellular protein. Our study demonstrates the suitability of the chloroplast compartment as a production site for an EDIII-based vaccine candidate against dengue fever and presents a Gateway(®) plastid transformation vector for inducible transgene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna Gottschamel
- NIBIO-Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115, 1431, Ås, Norway
- BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria
| | - Andreas Lössl
- BOKU-University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stephanie Ruf
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Yanliang Wang
- NIBIO-Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115, 1431, Ås, Norway
| | | | - Ralph Bock
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
| | - Jihong Liu Clarke
- NIBIO-Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115, 1431, Ås, Norway.
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23
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Gnanasekaran T, Karcher D, Nielsen AZ, Martens HJ, Ruf S, Kroop X, Olsen CE, Motawie MS, Pribil M, Møller BL, Bock R, Jensen PE. Transfer of the cytochrome P450-dependent dhurrin pathway from Sorghum bicolor into Nicotiana tabacum chloroplasts for light-driven synthesis. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2016; 67:2495-506. [PMID: 26969746 PMCID: PMC4809297 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erw067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Plant chloroplasts are light-driven cell factories that have great potential to act as a chassis for metabolic engineering applications. Using plant chloroplasts, we demonstrate how photosynthetic reducing power can drive a metabolic pathway to synthesise a bio-active natural product. For this purpose, we stably engineered the dhurrin pathway from Sorghum bicolor into the chloroplasts of Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). Dhurrin is a cyanogenic glucoside and its synthesis from the amino acid tyrosine is catalysed by two membrane-bound cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP79A1 and CYP71E1) and a soluble glucosyltransferase (UGT85B1), and is dependent on electron transfer from a P450 oxidoreductase. The entire pathway was introduced into the chloroplast by integrating CYP79A1, CYP71E1, and UGT85B1 into a neutral site of the N. tabacum chloroplast genome. The two P450s and the UGT85B1 were functional when expressed in the chloroplasts and converted endogenous tyrosine into dhurrin using electrons derived directly from the photosynthetic electron transport chain, without the need for the presence of an NADPH-dependent P450 oxidoreductase. The dhurrin produced in the engineered plants amounted to 0.1-0.2% of leaf dry weight compared to 6% in sorghum. The results obtained pave the way for plant P450s involved in the synthesis of economically important compounds to be engineered into the thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts, and demonstrate that their full catalytic cycle can be driven directly by photosynthesis-derived electrons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thiyagarajan Gnanasekaran
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Daniel Karcher
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Zygadlo Nielsen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Helle Juel Martens
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Stephanie Ruf
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Xenia Kroop
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Carl Erik Olsen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mohammed Saddik Motawie
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mathias Pribil
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Birger Lindberg Møller
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Poul Erik Jensen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Center for Synthetic Biology bioSYNergy, Villum Research Center "Plant Plasticity", Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
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24
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Warzecha H. Lights, P450, action! Metabolite formation in chloroplasts. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2016; 67:2123-5. [PMID: 27022183 PMCID: PMC4809302 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erw114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Heribert Warzecha
- Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstraße 3-5, 64285 Darmstadt, Germany
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25
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The case for plant-made veterinary immunotherapeutics. Biotechnol Adv 2016; 34:597-604. [PMID: 26875776 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2016.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2015] [Revised: 01/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
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.
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De Marchis F, Bellucci M, Pompa A. Phaseolin expression in tobacco chloroplast reveals an autoregulatory mechanism in heterologous protein translation. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2016; 14:603-14. [PMID: 26031839 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2015] [Revised: 03/20/2015] [Accepted: 04/25/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Plastid DNA engineering is a well-established research area of plant biotechnology, and plastid transgenes often give high expression levels. However, it is still almost impossible to predict the accumulation rate of heterologous protein in transplastomic plants, and there are many cases of unsuccessful transgene expression. Chloroplasts regulate their proteome at the post-transcriptional level, mainly through translation control. One of the mechanisms to modulate the translation has been described in plant chloroplasts for the chloroplast-encoded subunits of multiprotein complexes, and the autoregulation of the translation initiation of these subunits depends on the availability of their assembly partners [control by epistasy of synthesis (CES)]. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, autoregulation of endogenous proteins recruited in the assembly of functional complexes has also been reported. In this study, we revealed a self-regulation mechanism triggered by the accumulation of a soluble recombinant protein, phaseolin, in the stroma of chloroplast-transformed tobacco plants. Immunoblotting experiments showed that phaseolin could avoid this self-regulation mechanism when targeted to the thylakoids in transplastomic plants. To inhibit the thylakoid-targeted phaseolin translation as well, this protein was expressed in the presence of a nuclear version of the phaseolin gene with a transit peptide. Pulse-chase and polysome analysis revealed that phaseolin mRNA translation on plastid ribosomes was repressed due to the accumulation in the stroma of the same soluble polypeptide imported from the cytosol. We suggest that translation autoregulation in chloroplast is not limited to heteromeric protein subunits but also involves at least some of the foreign soluble recombinant proteins, leading to the inhibition of plastome-encoded transgene expression in chloroplast.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca De Marchis
- Research Division of Perugia, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Research Council, Perugia, Italy
| | - Michele Bellucci
- Research Division of Perugia, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Research Council, Perugia, Italy
| | - Andrea Pompa
- Research Division of Perugia, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, National Research Council, Perugia, Italy
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Gangl D, Zedler JAZ, Rajakumar PD, Martinez EMR, Riseley A, Włodarczyk A, Purton S, Sakuragi Y, Howe CJ, Jensen PE, Robinson C. Biotechnological exploitation of microalgae. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2015; 66:6975-90. [PMID: 26400987 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erv426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Microalgae are a diverse group of single-cell photosynthetic organisms that include cyanobacteria and a wide range of eukaryotic algae. A number of microalgae contain high-value compounds such as oils, colorants, and polysaccharides, which are used by the food additive, oil, and cosmetic industries, among others. They offer the potential for rapid growth under photoautotrophic conditions, and they can grow in a wide range of habitats. More recently, the development of genetic tools means that a number of species can be transformed and hence used as cell factories for the production of high-value chemicals or recombinant proteins. In this article, we review exploitation use of microalgae with a special emphasis on genetic engineering approaches to develop cell factories, and the use of synthetic ecology approaches to maximize productivity. We discuss the success stories in these areas, the hurdles that need to be overcome, and the potential for expanding the industry in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doris Gangl
- Centre for Molecular Processing, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK
| | - Julie A Z Zedler
- Centre for Molecular Processing, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK
| | - Priscilla D Rajakumar
- Institute of Structural & Molecular Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Erick M Ramos Martinez
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Anthony Riseley
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QW, UK
| | - Artur Włodarczyk
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Saul Purton
- Institute of Structural & Molecular Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Yumiko Sakuragi
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christopher J Howe
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QW, UK
| | - Poul Erik Jensen
- Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Colin Robinson
- Centre for Molecular Processing, School of Biosciences, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NJ, UK
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MacDonald J, Doshi K, Dussault M, Hall JC, Holbrook L, Jones G, Kaldis A, Klima CL, Macdonald P, McAllister T, McLean MD, Potter A, Richman A, Shearer H, Yarosh O, Yoo HS, Topp E, Menassa R. Bringing plant-based veterinary vaccines to market: Managing regulatory and commercial hurdles. Biotechnol Adv 2015; 33:1572-81. [PMID: 26232717 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2015.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2015] [Revised: 07/20/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The production of recombinant vaccines in plants may help to reduce the burden of veterinary diseases, which cause major economic losses and in some cases can affect human health. While there is abundant research in this area, a knowledge gap exists between the ability to create and evaluate plant-based products in the laboratory, and the ability to take these products on a path to commercialization. The current report, arising from a workshop sponsored by an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Co-operative Research Programme, addresses this gap by providing guidance in planning for the commercialization of plant-made vaccines for animal use. It includes relevant information on developing business plans, assessing market opportunities, manufacturing scale-up, financing, protecting and using intellectual property, and regulatory approval with a focus on Canadian regulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline MacDonald
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, Ontario N5V 4T3, Canada
| | - Ketan Doshi
- Prairie Plant Systems Inc., 1 Plant Technology Road, Box 19A, RR#5, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 3J8, Canada
| | | | - J Christopher Hall
- PlantForm Corp., 120 Research Lane, Suite 200, Guelph, Ontario N1G 0B4, Canada; School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2 W1, Canada
| | - Larry Holbrook
- Prairie Plant Systems Inc., 1 Plant Technology Road, Box 19A, RR#5, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 3J8, Canada
| | - Ginny Jones
- Elanco Canada Ltd., 797 Victoria Road, Route 116, Victoria, Prince Edward Island C0A 2G0, Canada
| | - Angelo Kaldis
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, Ontario N5V 4T3, Canada
| | - Cassidy L Klima
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 5403 1st Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4B1, Canada
| | - Phil Macdonald
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 1400 Merivale Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9, Canada
| | - Tim McAllister
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 5403 1st Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4B1, Canada
| | - Michael D McLean
- PlantForm Corp., 120 Research Lane, Suite 200, Guelph, Ontario N1G 0B4, Canada
| | - Andrew Potter
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E3, Canada
| | - Alex Richman
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 174 Stone Road West, Guelph, Ontario N1G 4S9, Canada
| | - Heather Shearer
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 59 Camelot Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9, Canada
| | - Oksana Yarosh
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 59 Camelot Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9, Canada
| | - Han Sang Yoo
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea
| | - Edward Topp
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, Ontario N5V 4T3, Canada
| | - Rima Menassa
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 1391 Sandford Street, London, Ontario N5V 4T3, Canada.
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Emadpour M, Karcher D, Bock R. Boosting riboswitch efficiency by RNA amplification. Nucleic Acids Res 2015; 43:e66. [PMID: 25824954 PMCID: PMC4446413 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkv165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2014] [Revised: 02/17/2015] [Accepted: 02/19/2015] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Riboswitches are RNA sensors that regulate gene expression in response to binding of small molecules. Although they conceptually represent simple on/off switches and, therefore, hold great promise for biotechnology and future synthetic biology applications, the induction of gene expression by natural riboswitches after ligand addition or removal is often only moderate and, consequently, the achievable expression levels are not very high. Here, we have designed an RNA amplification-based system that strongly improves the efficiency of riboswitches. We have successfully implemented the method in a biological system for which currently no efficient endogenous tools for inducible (trans)gene expression are available: the chloroplasts of higher plants. We further show that an HIV antigen whose constitutive expression from the chloroplast genome is deleterious to the plant can be inducibly expressed under the control of the RNA amplification-enhanced riboswitch (RAmpER) without causing a mutant phenotype, demonstrating the potential of the method for the production of proteins and metabolites that are toxic to the host cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Masoumeh Emadpour
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Daniel Karcher
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
| | - Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
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Scotti N, Sannino L, Idoine A, Hamman P, De Stradis A, Giorio P, Maréchal-Drouard L, Bock R, Cardi T. The HIV-1 Pr55 gag polyprotein binds to plastidial membranes and leads to severe impairment of chloroplast biogenesis and seedling lethality in transplastomic tobacco plants. Transgenic Res 2015; 24:319-31. [PMID: 25348481 DOI: 10.1007/s11248-014-9845-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2014] [Accepted: 10/21/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Chloroplast genetic engineering has long been recognised as a powerful technology to produce recombinant proteins. To date, however, little attention has been given to the causes of pleiotropic effects reported, in some cases, as consequence of the expression of foreign proteins in transgenic plastids. In this study, we investigated the phenotypic alterations observed in transplastomic tobacco plants accumulating the Pr55(gag) polyprotein of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1). The expression of Pr55(gag) at high levels in the tobacco plastome leads to a lethal phenotype of seedlings grown in soil, severe impairment of plastid development and photosynthetic activity, with chloroplasts largely resembling undeveloped proplastids. These alterations are associated to the binding of Pr55(gag) to thylakoids. During particle assembly in HIV-1 infected human cells, the binding of Pr55(gag) to a specific lipid [phosphatidylinositol-(4-5) bisphosphate] in the plasma membrane is mediated by myristoylation at the amino-terminus and the so-called highly basic region (HBR). Surprisingly, the non-myristoylated Pr55(gag) expressed in tobacco plastids was likely able, through the HBR motif, to bind to nonphosphorous glycerogalactolipids or other classes of lipids present in plastidial membranes. Although secondary consequences of disturbed chloroplast biogenesis on expression of nuclear-encoded plastid proteins cannot be ruled out, results of proteomic analyses suggest that their altered accumulation could be due to retrograde control in which chloroplasts relay their status to the nucleus for fine-tuning of gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Scotti
- CNR-IBBR, Institute of Biosciences and BioResources, National Research Council of Italy, Via Università 133, 80055, Portici, NA, Italy,
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Bock R. Engineering plastid genomes: methods, tools, and applications in basic research and biotechnology. ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY 2015; 66:211-41. [PMID: 25494465 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-arplant-050213-040212] [Citation(s) in RCA: 218] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
The small bacterial-type genome of the plastid (chloroplast) can be engineered by genetic transformation, generating cells and plants with transgenic plastid genomes, also referred to as transplastomic plants. The transformation process relies on homologous recombination, thereby facilitating the site-specific alteration of endogenous plastid genes as well as the precisely targeted insertion of foreign genes into the plastid DNA. The technology has been used extensively to analyze chloroplast gene functions and study plastid gene expression at all levels in vivo. Over the years, a large toolbox has been assembled that is now nearly comparable to the techniques available for plant nuclear transformation and that has enabled new applications of transplastomic technology in basic and applied research. This review describes the state of the art in engineering the plastid genomes of algae and land plants (Embryophyta). It provides an overview of the existing tools for plastid genome engineering, discusses current technological limitations, and highlights selected applications that demonstrate the immense potential of chloroplast transformation in several key areas of plant biotechnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany;
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Kolotilin I, Topp E, Cox E, Devriendt B, Conrad U, Joensuu J, Stöger E, Warzecha H, McAllister T, Potter A, McLean MD, Hall JC, Menassa R. Plant-based solutions for veterinary immunotherapeutics and prophylactics. Vet Res 2014; 45:117. [PMID: 25559098 PMCID: PMC4280687 DOI: 10.1186/s13567-014-0117-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2014] [Accepted: 10/30/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
An alarming increase in emergence of antibiotic resistance among pathogens worldwide has become a serious threat to our ability to treat infectious diseases according to the World Health Organization. Extensive use of antibiotics by livestock producers promotes the spread of new resistant strains, some of zoonotic concern, which increases food-borne illness in humans and causes significant economic burden on healthcare systems. Furthermore, consumer preferences for meat/poultry/fish produced without the use of antibiotics shape today's market demand. So, it is viewed as inevitable by the One Health Initiative that humans need to reduce the use of antibiotics and turn to alternative, improved means to control disease: vaccination and prophylactics. Besides the intense research focused on novel therapeutic molecules, both these strategies rely heavily on the availability of cost-effective, efficient and scalable production platforms which will allow large-volume manufacturing for vaccines, antibodies and other biopharmaceuticals. Within this context, plant-based platforms for production of recombinant therapeutic proteins offer significant advantages over conventional expression systems, including lack of animal pathogens, low production costs, fast turnaround and response times and rapid, nearly-unlimited scalability. Also, because dried leaves and seeds can be stored at room temperature for lengthy periods without loss of recombinant proteins, plant expression systems have the potential to offer lucrative benefits from the development of edible vaccines and prophylactics, as these would not require "cold chain" storage and transportation, and could be administered in mass volumes with minimal processing. Several biotechnology companies currently have developed and adopted plant-based platforms for commercial production of recombinant protein therapeutics. In this manuscript, we outline the challenges in the process of livestock immunization as well as the current plant biotechnology developments aimed to address these challenges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Kolotilin
- />Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON Canada
| | - Ed Topp
- />AAFC, Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, 1391 Sandford St, London, ON Canada
| | - Eric Cox
- />Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Bert Devriendt
- />Laboratory of Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium
| | - Udo Conrad
- />Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany
| | - Jussi Joensuu
- />VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, Finland
| | - Eva Stöger
- />Department for Applied Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Heribert Warzecha
- />Technische Universität Darmstadt, FB Biologie, Schnittspahnstr. 5, D-64287 Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Tim McAllister
- />AAFC, Lethbridge Research Centre, 5403, 1 Avenue South, Lethbridge, Alberta Canada
| | - Andrew Potter
- />Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
- />Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, 120 Veterinary Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
| | - Michael D McLean
- />PlantForm Corp., c/o Room 2218, E.C. Bovey Bldg, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2 W1 Canada
| | - J Christopher Hall
- />School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2 W1 Canada
| | - Rima Menassa
- />Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond St, London, ON Canada
- />AAFC, Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, 1391 Sandford St, London, ON Canada
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Hassan SW, Waheed MT, Müller M, Clarke JL, Shinwari ZK, Lössl AG. Expression of HPV-16 L1 capsomeres with glutathione-S-transferase as a fusion protein in tobacco plastids: an approach for a capsomere-based HPV vaccine. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2014; 10:2975-82. [PMID: 25483463 PMCID: PMC5443053 DOI: 10.4161/21645515.2014.970973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2014] [Revised: 07/11/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, which is the second most severe cancer of women worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Although vaccines against HPV infection are commercially available, they are neither affordable nor accessible to women in low income countries e.g. Africa. Thus, alternative cost-effective vaccine production approaches need to be developed. This study uses tobacco plants to express pentameric capsomeres of HPV that have been reported to generate elevated immune responses against HPV. A modified HPV-16 L1 (L1_2xCysM) protein has been expressed as a fusion protein with glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in tobacco chloroplasts following biolistic transformation. In total 7 transplastomic lines with healthy phenotypes were generated. Site specific integration of the GST-L1_2xCysM and aadA genes was confirmed by PCR. Southern blot analysis verified homogenous transformation of all transplastomic lines. Antigen capture ELISA with the conformation-specific antibody Ritti01, showed protein expression as well as the retention of immunogenic epitopes of L1 protein. In their morphology, GST-L1 expressing tobacco plants were identical to wild type plants and yielded fertile flowers. Taken together, these data enrich knowledge for future development of cost-effective plant-made vaccines against HPV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Syed Waqas Hassan
- Department of Biotechnology; Quaid-i-Azam University; Islamabad, Pakistan
| | | | - Martin Müller
- Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum; Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jihong Liu Clarke
- Bioforsk-Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research; Aas, Norway
| | | | - Andreas Günter Lössl
- Department of Crop Sciences; University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences; Tulln an der Donau, Austria
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Waheed MT, Gottschamel J, Hassan SW, Lössl AG. Plant-derived vaccines. Hum Vaccin Immunother 2014; 8:403-6. [DOI: 10.4161/hv.18568] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
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Vafaee Y, Staniek A, Mancheno-Solano M, Warzecha H. A modular cloning toolbox for the generation of chloroplast transformation vectors. PLoS One 2014; 9:e110222. [PMID: 25302695 PMCID: PMC4193872 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2014] [Accepted: 09/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Plastid transformation is a powerful tool for basic research, but also for the generation of stable genetically engineered plants producing recombinant proteins at high levels or for metabolic engineering purposes. However, due to the genetic makeup of plastids and the distinct features of the transformation process, vector design, and the use of specific genetic elements, a large set of basic transformation vectors is required, making cloning a tedious and time-consuming effort. Here, we describe the adoption of standardized modular cloning (GoldenBraid) to the design and assembly of the full spectrum of plastid transformation vectors. The modular design of genetic elements allows straightforward and time-efficient build-up of transcriptional units as well as construction of vectors targeting any homologous recombination site of choice. In a three-level assembly process, we established a vector fostering gene expression and formation of griffithsin, a potential viral entry inhibitor and HIV prophylactic, in the plastids of tobacco. Successful transformation as well as transcript and protein production could be shown. In concert with the aforesaid endeavor, a set of modules facilitating plastid transformation was generated, thus augmenting the GoldenBraid toolbox. In short, the work presented in this study enables efficient application of synthetic biology methods to plastid transformation in plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yavar Vafaee
- Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Agata Staniek
- Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Maria Mancheno-Solano
- Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
| | - Heribert Warzecha
- Plant Biotechnology and Metabolic Engineering, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
- * E-mail:
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Nair NR, Chidambareswaren M, Manjula S. Enhanced heterologous expression of biologically active human granulocyte colony stimulating factor in transgenic tobacco BY-2 cells by localization to endoplasmic reticulum. Mol Biotechnol 2014; 56:849-62. [PMID: 24845752 DOI: 10.1007/s12033-014-9765-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Tobacco Bright Yellow-2 (BY-2) cells, one of the best characterized cell lines is an attractive expression system for heterologous protein expression. However, the expression of foreign proteins is currently hampered by their low yield, which is partially the result of proteolytic degradation. Human granulocyte colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF) is a hematopoietic cytokine. Recombinant hG-CSF is successfully being used for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia in cancer patients. Here, we describe a simple strategy for producing biologically active hG-CSF in tobacco BY-2 cells, localized in the apoplast of BY-2 cells, as well as targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). ER targeting significantly enhanced recombinant production which scaled to 17.89 mg/l from 4.19 mg/l when expressed in the apoplasts. Southern blotting confirmed the stable integration of hG-CSF in the BY-2 nuclear genome, and the expression of hG-CSF was analysed by Western blotting. Total soluble protein containing hG-CSF isolated from positive calli showed proliferative potential when tested on HL-60 cell lines by MTT assay. We also report the potential of a Fluorescence-activated cell sorting approach for an efficient sorting of the hG-CSF-expressing cell lines, which will enable the generation of homogenous high-producing cell lines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nisha R Nair
- Division of Plant Molecular Biology, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, 695014, Kerala, India
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Lv Y, Cai H, Yu J, Liu J, Liu Q, Guo C. Biosafety assessment of GFP transplastomic tobacco to rhizosphere microbial community. ECOTOXICOLOGY (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2014; 23:718-25. [PMID: 24429672 DOI: 10.1007/s10646-014-1185-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/04/2014] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is one of the most widely studied and exploited proteins in biochemistry, and has many applications as a marker, especially in plant transformation system. Although a number of studies have been conducted to assess the toxify of this protein to specific organisms, little is known about GFP on rhizosphere microbial community, which is regarded as good indicator for environmental risk assessment. Chloroplast genetic engineering has shown superiority over traditional nuclear genetic engineering, and has been used in many aspects of plant genetic engineering. High levels of chloroplast-based protein accumulation make this technology as an ideal strategy to evaluate biosafety of transgenes. In the present study, the effects of field-released GFP transplastomic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) on rhizosphere microbes over a whole growth cycle were investigated by using both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Compared to wild-type control, transplastomic tobacco had no significant influence on the microbial population at the seedling, vegetative, flowering and senescing stages. However, developmental stages had more influence than ecotypes (GFP-transformed and wild-type). This was confirmed by colony forming unit, Biolog Eco(TM) and PCR-DGGE analysis. Thus, these results suggest chloroplast transformation with a GFP reporter gene has no significant influence on rhizosphere microbial community, and will be potential platform for plant biotechnology in future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yueping Lv
- Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cytogenetics, College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, 150025, Heilongjiang, China
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Chen PJ, Senthilkumar R, Jane WN, He Y, Tian Z, Yeh KW. Transplastomic Nicotiana benthamiana plants expressing multiple defence genes encoding protease inhibitors and chitinase display broad-spectrum resistance against insects, pathogens and abiotic stresses. PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL 2014; 12:503-15. [PMID: 24479648 DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2013] [Revised: 11/29/2013] [Accepted: 11/29/2013] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Plastid engineering provides several advantages for the next generation of transgenic technology, including the convenient use of transgene stacking and the generation of high expression levels of foreign proteins. With the goal of generating transplastomic plants with multiresistance against both phytopathogens and insects, a construct containing a monocistronic patterned gene stack was transformed into Nicotiana benthamiana plastids harbouring sweet potato sporamin, taro cystatin and chitinase from Paecilomyces javanicus. Transplastomic lines were screened and characterized by Southern/Northern/Western blot analysis for the confirmation of transgene integration and respective expression level. Immunogold localization analyses confirmed the high level of accumulation proteins that were specifically expressed in leaf and root plastids. Subsequent functional bioassays confirmed that the gene stacks conferred a high level of resistance against both insects and phytopathogens. Specifically, larva of Spodoptera litura and Spodoptera exigua either died or exhibited growth retardation after ingesting transplastomic plant leaves. In addition, the inhibitory effects on both leaf spot diseases caused by Alternaria alternata and soft rot disease caused by Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum were markedly observed. Moreover, tolerance to abiotic stresses such as salt/osmotic stress was highly enhanced. The results confirmed that the simultaneous expression of sporamin, cystatin and chitinase conferred a broad spectrum of resistance. Conversely, the expression of single transgenes was not capable of conferring such resistance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate an efficacious stacked combination of plastid-expressed defence genes which resulted in an engineered tolerance to various abiotic and biotic stresses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peng-Jen Chen
- Institute of Plant Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
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39
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Abstract
Chloroplast transformation has been extremely valuable for the study of plastid biology and gene expression, but the tissue culture methodology involved can be laborious, and it can take several months to obtain homoplasmic regenerated plants useful for molecular or physiological studies. In contrast, transformation of tobacco suspension cell plastids provides an easy and efficient system to rapidly evaluate the efficacy of multiple constructs prior to plant regeneration. Suspension cell cultures can be initiated from many cell types, and once established, can be maintained by subculture for more than a year with no loss of transformation efficiency. Using antibiotic selection, homoplasmy is readily achieved in uniform cell colonies useful for comparative gene expression analyses, with the added flexibility to subsequently regenerate plants for in planta studies. Plastids from suspension cells grown in the dark are similar in size and cellular morphology to those in embryogenic culture systems of monocot species, thus providing a useful model for understanding the steps leading to plastid transformation in those recalcitrant species.
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Abstract
Expression of transgenes from the plastid genome offers a number of attractions to biotechnologists, with the potential to attain very high protein accumulation levels arguably being the most attractive one. High-level transgene expression is of particular importance in resistance engineering (e.g., via expression of insecticidal proteins) and molecular farming. Over the past years, the production of many commercially valuable proteins in chloroplast-transgenic (transplastomic) plants has been attempted, including pharmaceutical proteins (such as subunit vaccines and protein antibiotics) and industrial enzymes. Although, in some cases, spectacularly high foreign protein accumulation levels have been obtained, expression levels were disappointingly poor in other cases. In this review, I summarize our current knowledge about the factors influencing the efficiency of plastid transgene expression and highlight possible optimization strategies to alleviate problems with poor expression levels.
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41
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Transgene-induced pleiotropic effects in transplastomic plants. Biotechnol Lett 2013; 36:229-39. [PMID: 24101241 DOI: 10.1007/s10529-013-1356-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2013] [Accepted: 09/10/2013] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Since the first demonstration of stable transgene integration in the plastid genome (plastome) of higher plants, plastid transformation has been used for a wide range of purposes, including basic studies as well as biotechnological applications, showing that transplastomic plants are an effective system to produce recombinant proteins. Compared to nuclear transformation, the main advantages of this technology are the high and stable production level of proteins as well as the natural containment of transgenes. To date, more than 100 transgenes have been successfully expressed in plant chloroplasts. In some cases, however, unintended pleiotropic effects on plant growth and physiology were shown in transplastomic plants. In this paper, we review such effects and discuss some of the technologies developed to overcome them.
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Bock R. Strategies for metabolic pathway engineering with multiple transgenes. PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2013; 83:21-31. [PMID: 23504453 DOI: 10.1007/s11103-013-0045-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2013] [Accepted: 03/11/2013] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The engineering of metabolic pathways in plants often requires the concerted expression of more than one gene. While with traditional transgenic approaches, the expression of multiple transgenes has been challenging, recent progress has greatly expanded our repertoire of powerful techniques making this possible. New technological options include large-scale co-transformation of the nuclear genome, also referred to as combinatorial transformation, and transformation of the chloroplast genome with synthetic operon constructs. This review describes the state of the art in multigene genetic engineering of plants. It focuses on the methods currently available for the introduction of multiple transgenes into plants and the molecular mechanisms underlying successful transgene expression. Selected examples of metabolic pathway engineering are used to illustrate the attractions and limitations of each method and to highlight key factors that influence the experimenter's choice of the best strategy for multigene engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
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Bock R. Genetic engineering of the chloroplast: novel tools and new applications. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2013; 26:7-13. [PMID: 24679252 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2013.06.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2013] [Accepted: 06/28/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The plastid genome represents an attractive target of genetic engineering in crop plants. Plastid transgenes often give high expression levels, can be stacked in operons and are largely excluded from pollen transmission. Recent research has greatly expanded our toolbox for plastid genome engineering and many new proof-of-principle applications have highlighted the enormous potential of the transplastomic technology in both crop improvement and the development of plants as bioreactors for the sustainable and cost-effective production of biopharmaceuticals, enzymes and raw materials for the chemical industry. This review describes recent technological advances with plastid transformation in seed plants. It focuses on novel tools for plastid genome engineering and transgene expression and summarizes progress with harnessing the potential of plastid transformation in biotechnology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph Bock
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany.
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Hefferon K. Plant-derived pharmaceuticals for the developing world. Biotechnol J 2013; 8:1193-202. [PMID: 23857915 DOI: 10.1002/biot.201300162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2013] [Revised: 04/02/2013] [Accepted: 06/26/2013] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Plant-produced vaccines and therapeutic agents offer enormous potential for providing relief to developing countries by reducing the incidence of infant mortality caused by infectious diseases. Vaccines derived from plants have been demonstrated to effectively elicit an immune response. Biopharmaceuticals produced in plants are inexpensive to produce, require fewer expensive purification steps, and can be stored at ambient temperatures for prolonged periods of time. As a result, plant-produced biopharmaceuticals have the potential to be more accessible to the rural poor. This review describes current progress with respect to plant-produced biopharmaceuticals, with a particular emphasis on those that target developing countries. Specific emphasis is given to recent research on the production of plant-produced vaccines toward human immunodeficiency virus, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis B virus, Ebola virus, human papillomavirus, rabies virus and common diarrheal diseases. Production platforms used to express vaccines in plants, including nuclear and chloroplast transformation, and the use of viral expression vectors, are described in this review. The review concludes by outlining the next steps for plant-produced vaccines to achieve their goal of providing safe, efficacious and inexpensive vaccines to the developing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Hefferon
- Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
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Nielsen AZ, Ziersen B, Jensen K, Lassen LM, Olsen CE, Møller BL, Jensen PE. Redirecting photosynthetic reducing power toward bioactive natural product synthesis. ACS Synth Biol 2013; 2:308-15. [PMID: 23654276 DOI: 10.1021/sb300128r] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
In addition to the products of photosynthesis, the chloroplast provides the energy and carbon building blocks required for synthesis of a wealth of bioactive natural products of which many have potential uses as pharmaceuticals. In the course of plant evolution, energy generation and biosynthetic capacities have been compartmentalized. Chloroplast photosynthesis provides ATP and NADPH as well as carbon sources for primary metabolism. Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) synthesize a wide spectrum of bioactive natural products, powered by single electron transfers from NADPH. P450s are present in low amounts, and the reactions proceed relatively slowly due to limiting concentrations of NADPH. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to break the evolutionary compartmentalization of energy generation and P450-catalyzed biosynthesis, by relocating an entire P450-dependent pathway to the chloroplast and driving the pathway by direct use of the reducing power generated by photosystem I in a light-dependent manner. The study demonstrates the potential of transferring pathways for structurally complex high-value natural products to the chloroplast and directly tapping into the reducing power generated by photosynthesis to drive the P450s using water as the primary electron donor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka Zygadlo Nielsen
- Center for Synthetic Biology and Villum Research Centre "Pro-Active Plants", †Section for Molecular Plant Biology, ‡Plant Biochemistry Laboratory, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen , Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Michoux F, Ahmad N, Hennig A, Nixon PJ, Warzecha H. Production of leafy biomass using temporary immersion bioreactors: an alternative platform to express proteins in transplastomic plants with drastic phenotypes. PLANTA 2013; 237:903-8. [PMID: 23262582 PMCID: PMC3579415 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-012-1829-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2012] [Accepted: 12/03/2012] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Chloroplast transformation technology is a promising approach for the production of foreign proteins in plants with expression levels of up to 70 % of total soluble protein (TSP) achieved in tobacco. However, expression of foreign protein in the chloroplast can lead to drastic or even lethal effects in transplastomic plants grown in soil, thereby potentially limiting the applicability of this technology. For instance, previous attempts to express the outer surface protein A (OspA) from Borrelia burgdorferi in tobacco chloroplasts led to plant death when expressed at 10 % TSP. We show here that this earlier transplastomic line, as well as a new plant line, OspA:YFP, expressing OspA fused to the yellow fluorescent protein, can be propagated in temporary immersion bioreactors (TIBs) using AlkaBurst™ technology to produce leafy biomass that expressed OspA at levels of up to 7.6 % TSP, to give a maximum yield of OspA of about 108 mg/L. Our results show that TIBs provide an alternative method for the production of transplastomic biomass expressing proteins toxic for plants and is a particularly useful approach when 'absolute' containment is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franck Michoux
- Alkion Biopharma SAS, 4 rue Pierre Fontaine, 91058, Evry, France.
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Caroca R, Howell KA, Hasse C, Ruf S, Bock R. Design of chimeric expression elements that confer high-level gene activity in chromoplasts. THE PLANT JOURNAL : FOR CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2013; 73:368-79. [PMID: 23004223 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.12031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2012] [Revised: 09/14/2012] [Accepted: 09/17/2012] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Non-green plastids, such as chromoplasts, generally have much lower activity of gene expression than chloroplasts in photosynthetically active tissues. Suppression of plastid genes in non-green tissues occurs through a complex interplay of transcriptional and translational control, with the contribution of regulation of transcript abundance versus translational activity being highly variable between genes. Here, we have investigated whether the low expression of the plastid genome in chromoplasts results from inherent limitations in gene expression capacity, or can be overcome by designing appropriate combinations of promoters and translation initiation signals in the 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR). We constructed chimeric expression elements that combine promoters and 5'-UTRs from plastid genes, which are suppressed during chloroplast-to-chromoplast conversion in Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) fruit ripening, either just at the translational level or just at the level of mRNA accumulation. These chimeric expression elements were introduced into the tomato plastid genome by stable chloroplast transformation. We report the identification of promoter-UTR combinations that confer high-level gene expression in chromoplasts of ripe tomato fruits, resulting in the accumulation of reporter protein GFP to up to 1% of total cellular protein. Our work demonstrates that non-green plastids are capable of expressing genes to high levels. Moreover, the chimeric cis-elements for chromoplasts developed here are widely applicable in basic and applied research using transplastomic methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rodrigo Caroca
- Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476, Potsdam-Golm, Germany
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48
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Production of pharmaceutical proteins in solanaceae food crops. Int J Mol Sci 2013; 14:2753-73. [PMID: 23434646 PMCID: PMC3588013 DOI: 10.3390/ijms14022753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2012] [Revised: 01/11/2013] [Accepted: 01/22/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The benefits of increased safety and cost-effectiveness make vegetable crops appropriate systems for the production and delivery of pharmaceutical proteins. In particular, Solanaceae edible crops could be inexpensive biofactories for oral vaccines and other pharmaceutical proteins that can be ingested as minimally processed extracts or as partially purified products. The field of crop plant biotechnology is advancing rapidly due to novel developments in genetic and genomic tools being made available today for the scientific community. In this review, we briefly summarize data now available regarding genomic resources for the Solanaceae family. In addition, we describe novel strategies developed for the expression of foreign proteins in vegetable crops and the utilization of these techniques to manufacture pharmaceutical proteins.
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Stable plastid transformation for high-level recombinant protein expression: promises and challenges. J Biomed Biotechnol 2012; 2012:158232. [PMID: 23093835 PMCID: PMC3474547 DOI: 10.1155/2012/158232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2012] [Revised: 08/10/2012] [Accepted: 08/24/2012] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Plants are a promising expression system for the production of recombinant proteins. However, low protein productivity remains a major obstacle that limits extensive commercialization of whole plant and plant cell bioproduction platform. Plastid genetic engineering offers several advantages, including high levels of transgenic expression, transgenic containment via maternal inheritance, and multigene expression in a single transformation event. In recent years, the development of optimized expression strategies has given a huge boost to the exploitation of plastids in molecular farming. The driving forces behind the high expression level of plastid bioreactors include codon optimization, promoters and UTRs, genotypic modifications, endogenous enhancer and regulatory elements, posttranslational modification, and proteolysis. Exciting progress of the high expression level has been made with the plastid-based production of two particularly important classes of pharmaceuticals: vaccine antigens, therapeutic proteins, and antibiotics and enzymes. Approaches to overcome and solve the associated challenges of this culture system that include low transformation frequencies, the formation of inclusion bodies, and purification of recombinant proteins will also be discussed.
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50
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Venkatesh J, Park SW. Plastid genetic engineering in Solanaceae. PROTOPLASMA 2012; 249:981-99. [PMID: 22395455 PMCID: PMC3459085 DOI: 10.1007/s00709-012-0391-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2011] [Accepted: 02/21/2012] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Plastid genetic engineering has come of age, becoming today an attractive alternative approach for the expression of foreign genes, as it offers several advantages over nuclear transformants. Significant progress has been made in plastid genetic engineering in tobacco and other Solanaceae plants, through the use of improved regeneration procedures and transformation vectors with efficient promoters and untranslated regions. Many genes encoding for industrially important proteins and vaccines, as well as genes conferring important agronomic traits, have been stably integrated and expressed in the plastid genome. Despite these advances, it remains a challenge to achieve marked levels of plastid transgene expression in non-green tissues. In this review, we summarize the basic requirements of plastid genetic engineering and discuss the current status, limitations, and the potential of plastid transformation for expanding future studies relating to Solanaceae plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jelli Venkatesh
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Konkuk University, 1 Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-701 Republic of Korea
| | - Se Won Park
- Department of Molecular Biotechnology, Konkuk University, 1 Hwayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 143-701 Republic of Korea
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