Bioreactor systems for in vitro production of foreign proteins using plant cell cultures

Plant cells have been demonstrated to be an attractive heterologous expression host (using whole plants and in vitro plant cell cultures) for foreign protein production in the past 20years. In recent years in vitro liquid cultures of plant cells in a fully contained bioreactor have become promising alternatives to traditional microbial fermentation and mammalian cell cultures as a foreign protein expression platform, due to the unique features of plant cells as a production host including product safety, cost-effective biomanufacturing, and the capacity for complex protein post-translational modifications. Heterologous proteins such as therapeutics, antibodies, vaccines and enzymes for pharmaceutical and industrial applications have been successfully expressed in plant cell culture-based bioreactor systems including suspended dedifferentiated plant cells, moss, and hairy roots, etc. In this article, the current status and emerging trends of plant cell culture for in vitro production of foreign proteins will be discussed with emphasis on the technological progress that has been made in plant cell culture bioreactor systems.     

A banana or a syringe: journey to edible vaccines

Constant emergence of diseases, along with the expanding size of world population creates demands for newer vaccines which can meet the challenges that conventional vaccines have not been able to overcome. The application of transgenic plants in the production of pharmaceuticals has led to the new approach of plant-based, orally-delivered vaccines. In recent years a number of recombinant vaccine antigens have been expressed in different plant tissues. The review highlights the generation of edible vaccines, their mode of action and their clinical application in various human diseases. Though the road ahead seems promising, there are several constraints which restrict the success and public acceptability of these vaccines. These include problems of choice of plants, storage, delivery, dosage, safety, public perception, quality control and licensing.     

Research Advances on Transgenic Plant Vaccines

In recent years, with the development of genetics molecular biology and plant biotechnology, the vaccination (e.g. genetic engineering subunit vaccine, living vector vaccine, nucleic acid vaccine) programs are taking on a prosperous evolvement. In particular, the technology of the use of transgenic plants to produce human or animal therapeutic vaccines receives increasing attention. Expressing vaccine candidates in vegetables and fruits open up a new avenue for producing oral/edible vaccines. Transgenic plant vaccine disquisitions exhibit a tempting latent exploiting foreground. There are a lot of advantages for transgenic plant vaccines, such as low cost, easiness of storage, and convenient immune-inoculation. Some productions converged in edible tissues, so they can be consumed directly without isolation and purification. Up to now, many transgenic plant vaccine productions have been investigated and developed. In this review, recent advances on plant-derived recombinant protein expression systems, infectious targets, and delivery systems are presented. Some issues of high concern such as biosafety and public health are also discussed. Special attention is given to the prospects and limitations on transgenic plant vaccines.     

转基因植物疫苗的研究进展

近些年,随着遗传技术和植物基因工程的发展进步,疫苗（亚单位疫苗、活载体疫苗和核酸疫苗等）的研究迅速发展起来。尤其是利用转基因植物技术生产植物疫苗的研究受到了广泛的关注,在转基因植物（蔬菜、水果、农作物）的可食用部位表达抗原生产人或动物治疗用重组蛋白和疫苗的技术为可食性疫苗的研制开辟了新途径,展现了诱人的开发前景。植物来源的疫苗具有很多优势,如生产成本低、易于保存、免疫接种方便、甚至不需提取纯化等处理而直接食用。目前已有很多转基因植物疫苗产品投入开发和生产。文章综述了近几年转基因植物疫苗在表达系统、生产、生物安全／管理、公众健康等方面的研究进展,对转基因植物疫苗存在的问题进行了分析,并对其研究前景提出了展望。     

Plants as bioreactors for the production of vaccine antigens

Plants have been identified as promising expression systems for commercial production of vaccine antigens. In phase I clinical trials several plant-derived vaccine antigens have been found to be safe and induce sufficiently high immune response. Thus, transgenic plants, including edible plant parts are suggested as excellent alternatives for the production of vaccines and economic scale-up through cultivation. Improved understanding of plant molecular biology and consequent refinement in the genetic engineering techniques have led to designing approaches for high level expression of vaccine antigens in plants. During the last decade, several efficient plant-based expression systems have been examined and more than 100 recombinant proteins including plant-derived vaccine antigens have been expressed in different plant tissues. Estimates suggest that it may become possible to obtain antigen sufficient for vaccinating millions of individuals from one acre crop by expressing the antigen in seeds of an edible legume, like peanut or soybean. In the near future, a plethora of protein products, developed through ‘naturalized bioreactors’ may reach market. Efforts for further improvements in these technologies need to be directed mainly towards validation and applicability of plant-based standardized mucosal and edible vaccines, regulatory pharmacology, formulations and the development of commercially viable GLP protocols. This article reviews the current status of developments in the area of use of plants for the development of vaccine antigens.     

转基因番木瓜作为抗结核植物口服疫苗的初步研究

转基因植物疫苗的研制,可改变传统的疫苗接种方式和接种手段,大大降低疫苗的生产成本,具有广阔的应用前景。结核病的泛滥使抗结核的免疫预防急需开发新型的疫苗,研制抗结核的转基因植物疫苗具有重大的理论和实践意义。本文对具有良好免疫原性的结核杆菌分泌蛋白ESAT—6基因,进行了修饰改造,构建了带潮霉素选择抗性基因的植物表达载体和根癌农杆菌工程菌;采用叶盘法转化热带水果番木瓜,获得了13株抗性植株,通过PCR、Southern blot和RNA dot blot分子检测,确认了4株为转基因植株。番木瓜ESAT—6转基因植株的获得,为进一步的结核病植物口服疫苗的免疫研究和新型抗结核疫苗的研制与开发奠定了基础。     

Pharming vaccines for hepatitis and cytomegalovirus: Towards the development of multivalent and subunit vaccines for oral delivery of antigens

A plant based high fidelity vaccine production system is being developed with emphasis on producing antigens capable of being orally delivered in multivalent or subunit plant packets. Plant-based edible vaccines may provide an attractive, safe and inexpensive alternative to conventional vaccine production. Edible plant tissues are not normally antigenic in nature. However, foreign antigens from common infectious organisms like hepatitis-B virus (HBV) can be produced along with naturally occurring storage proteins in DNA-transformed plants. Upon administration via the oral route, these transgenic plant tissues may mobilize the protective humoral and mucosal immune responses to challenge the natural infectious agent. When tobacco, carrot and rice plants were transformed with the truncated version of the HBV nucleocapsid gene expression construct, non-infective hepatitis B viral core particles were observed via electron microscopy. A second plant codon-optimised HBV expression construct was designed that included the extensin signal sequence for augmented HBV particle accumulation. Upon transformation of tobacco plants with the codon-optimised construct, over 4 times more transgenic plants with high levels of expression of the HBV nucleocapsid protein were generated in comparison with a similar vector containing the unmodified wild-type HBV gene codon sequence. Further analysis via Western blotting confirmed the presence of the viral antigen in the total protein extracts from transgenic tobacco leaves and seeds. Electron microscopy showed that the expressed protein self-assembled into viral-like particles of 25–30 nm in diameter. To develop an edible subunit vaccine in plant seeds, a third plant transformation construct was used for the synthesis of the human cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B (HCMV gB) subunit. The gB protein derived from tobacco seeds retained critical structural features including epitopes for neutralizing antibodies and was targeted to the protein storage vesicles of tobacco seed endosperm. Two different strains of mice were orally immunized with tobacco seeds containing low concentrations of HCMV gB, with varying dosages, but without adjuvant. No anti-gB response was detected in intestinal or serum samples. However, a systemic immune response to normal tobacco seed proteins was observed in both strains of mice. While higher expression levels of antigens in seeds must be achieved, seeds may provide an effective and immunostimulatory vehicle for delivering edible vaccines to the intestinal mucosa. One of the outstanding challenges includes defining optimum conditions of antigen presentation, dosage and immunization schedules that will induce strong mucosal and/or systemic immune responses in heterogeneous populations. Here we review the different strategies being employed to produce specific oral antigens in plant tissues.     

Generation and immunogenicity of Japanese encephalitis virus envelope protein expressed in transgenic rice

Transgenic plants have become attractive as bioreactors to produce heterologous proteins that can be developed as edible vaccines. In the present study, transgenic rice expressing the envelope protein (E) of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), under the control of a dual cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV 35S) promoter, was generated by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Southern blot, Northern blot, Western blot and ELISA analyses confirmed that the E gene was integrated into transgenic rice and was expressed in the leaves at levels of 1.1-1.9 μg/mg of total soluble protein. After intraperitoneal immunization of mice with crude protein extracts from transgenic rice plants, JEV-specific neutralizing antibody could be detected. Moreover, E-specific mucosal immune responses could be detected in mice after oral immunization with protein extracts from transgenic rice plants. These results show the potential of using a transgenic rice-based expression system as an alternative bioreactor for JEV subunit vaccine.     

Stable genetic transformation of tomato plastids and expression of a foreign protein in fruit

Transgenic chloroplasts offer unique advantages in plant biotechnology, including high-level foreign protein expression, absence of epigenetic effects, and gene containment due to the lack of transgene transmission through pollen. However, broad application of plastid genome engineering in biotechnology has been largely hampered by both the lack of chloroplast transformation systems for major crop plants and the usually low plastid gene expression levels in nongreen tissues such as fruits, tubers, and other storage organs. Here we describe the development of a plastid transformation system for tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum. This is the first report on the generation of fertile transplastomic plants in a food crop with an edible fruit. We show that chromoplasts in the tomato fruit express the transgene to approximately 50% of the expression levels in leaf chloroplasts. Given the generally very high foreign protein accumulation rates that can be achieved in transgenic chloroplasts (>40% of the total soluble protein), this system paves the way to efficient production of edible vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and antibodies in tomato.     

高等植物叶绿体表达重组蛋白研究进展

近年来,基因工程技术发展迅速,许多重组蛋白得以表达。其中利用植物生物反应器表达特异药物蛋白为人类一些重要疾病的预防和治疗提供了新途径。植物叶绿体遗传转化和表达系统成为目前植物生物反应器的研究热点。因结构和遗传上的特殊性,高等植物叶绿体在重组蛋白表达方面具有独特优势,外源基因表达量高、定点整合,而且叶绿体母系遗传特性保证了生物安全性。很多重要药用蛋白质在植物叶绿体中表达成功。烟草作为高等植物叶绿体转化模式植物,在疫苗抗原、抗体等药物蛋白和其他重要重组蛋白表达方面取得显著进展。高等植物叶绿体遗传转化也为叶绿体基因的表达和调控机制的研究提供新的技术和方法。文中从叶绿体遗传转化原理、载体构建、重组蛋白和重要药物蛋白在叶绿体中的表达以及重组蛋白表达对植物代谢和性状影响等多个角度,对高等植物叶绿体遗传转化体系研究的新进展进行了综述,以期为叶绿体表达平台的开发和重要药用蛋白质的表达提供新思路。     

食用疫苗研究进展

90年代初,世界卫生组织提出廉价、不需要冷藏的疫苗要求之后,查尔斯J安特贞提出了食用疫苗的设想.过去10年间,科学家们对这一设想进行了许多研究,涉及的疫苗包括肝炎、痢疾、狂犬疫苗等,初步表明食用疫苗具有可行性.科学家们预言将来儿童预防接种时不用打针而是吃某种水果或食品就能达到预防接种的目的.     

Real-time PCR: what relevance to plant studies?

The appearance of genetically modified organisms on the food market a few years ago, and the demand for more precise and reliable techniques to detect foreign (transgenic or pathogenic) DNA in edible plants, have been the driving force for the introduction of real-time PCR techniques in plant research. This was followed by numerous fundamental research applications aiming to study the expression profiles of endogenous genes and multigene families. Since then, the interest in this technique in the plant scientist community has increased exponentially. This review describes the technical features of quantitative real-time PCR that are especially relevant to plant research, and summarizes its present and future applications.     

植物生物反应器研究现状、瓶颈及策略

近10年,植物作为重组蛋白生产系统是生命科学中研究最活跃领域之一。植物系统具有低成本、安全和易规模化优势,其表达生物活性药用蛋白能力已被许多研究所证实;同时,植物药用蛋白产品还表现出潜在的市场和广阔应用前景。鉴于此,回顾了植物生物反应器兴起,介绍了植物表达系统和重组蛋白研究现状,综述了植物生物反应器面临瓶颈问题、解决对策和未来一段时间内研究热点;在展望植物生物反应器前景同时,对我国研究现状、与国外差距和未来发展应采取策略进行了讨论。     

利用植物表达外源蛋白需解决的几个关键问题

植物外源蛋白表达系统已取得较大进展。目前已经能够利用转基因植物表达和生产多种外源蛋白,但仍存在诸多难以克服并急需解决的技术问题。作者从植物组织再生率、转化频率、调控元件、转基因植物遗传稳定性及其潜在的安全性问题、外源蛋白在植物体内的表达、调控、稳定性及其下游加工问题等方面综述了植物外源蛋白表达系统存在的问题和应对策略,为进一步开发、利用转基因植物生产外源蛋白提供理论依据。     

叶绿体转基因植物——一种新型生物反应器

叶绿体转基因植物作为生物反应器, 具有外源蛋白表达量高和环境安全性好等优点, 近年来呈现出诱人的发展前景。本文综述了叶绿体基因工程的优越性, 并重点介绍了叶绿体转基因植物作为生物反应器在生产疫苗、药用蛋白及生物可降解塑料等物质方面的最新研究进展。     

Successful oral prime-immunization with VP60 from rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus produced in transgenic plants using different fusion strategies

Expression levels of vaccine antigens in transgenic plants have important consequences in their use as edible vaccines. The major structural protein VP60 from the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) has been produced in transgenic plants using different strategies to compare its accumulation in plant tissues. The highest expressing plants were those presenting stable, complex, high-density structures formed by VP60, suggesting the importance of multisubunit structures for the stability of this protein in plant cells. Mice fed with leaves of transgenic plants expressing VP60 were primed to a subimmunogenic baculovirus-derived vaccine single dose. This indicates that plants expressing VP60 antigen may be a new means for oral RHDV immunization.     

植物生物反应器生产药物蛋白的前景

转基因植物作为生物反应器生产重要的药用蛋白,如抗体、血液替代品和疫苗,为健康保健和科学研究提供充足的生物药物,满足人们日益增长的需要。本文综述了这一领域的研究进展以及商业化前景。     

转基因番茄口服疫苗的现状,问题及对策

日趋成熟的植物基因工程技术为转基因植物口服疫苗的研究提供了基础并带来了广阔的发展前景.番茄是最常用的转基因植物受体材料之一,可以直接生食避免了加热过程对外源蛋白的损伤.随着转基因植物免疫保护机制的进一步阐明以及国际番茄基因组测序计划的完成,转基因番茄口服疫苗的发展也迎来了新的机遇.但与此同时,我们也应看到转基因番茄口服疫苗仍存在诸多不确定的因素,如外源蛋白表达量不高、口服时可能被消化以及转基因植物安全性问题等.如何成功解决这些问题将成为转基因番茄口服疫苗发展过程中的重大考验.综述了植物口服疫苗这一概念出现后的近二十年中,番茄作为受体材料研制口服疫苗的现状,问题及对策,旨在为转基因番茄口服疫苗的进一步研究提供思路.     

植物病毒表达载体研究进展

利用DNA或RNA植物病毒作载体表达外源蛋白是近几年发展较快的一种新的遗传转化方式,它具有以下几个优点:表达量大,表达速度快,易于进行基因操作和接种以及适用对象广泛。已发展的四种载体构建策略包括:基因取代,基因插入,融合抗原和基因互补。植物病毒表达载体可以用于基因的重组、病毒的移动和基因功能的检测等基础性研究,也可用于商业上表达多种药用蛋白或疫苗。植物病毒表达载体的稳定性主要取决于存在同源序列而引起的基因重组。本文还对病毒载体的生物安全性进行了讨论。     

Expression of the native cholera toxin B subunit gene and assembly as functional oligomers in transgenic tobacco chloroplasts

The B subunits of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (LTB) and cholera toxin of Vibrio cholerae (CTB) are candidate vaccine antigens. Integration of an unmodified CTB-coding sequence into chloroplast genomes (up to 10,000 copies per cell), resulted in the accumulation of up to 4.1 % of total soluble tobacco leaf protein as functional oligomers (410-fold higher expression levels than that of the unmodified LTB gene expressed via the nuclear genome). However, expression levels reported are an underestimation of actual accumulation of CTB in transgenic chloroplasts, due to aggregation of the oligomeric forms in unboiled samples similar to the aggregation observed for purified bacterial antigen. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed stable integration of the CTB gene into the chloroplast genome. Western blot analysis showed that the chloroplast- synthesized CTB assembled into oligomers and were antigenically identical with purified native CTB. Also, binding assays confirmed that chloroplast-synthesized CTB binds to the intestinal membrane GM1-ganglioside receptor, indicating correct folding and disulfide bond formation of CTB pentamers within transgenic chloroplasts. In contrast to stunted nuclear transgenic plants, chloroplast transgenic plants were morphologically indistinguishable from untransformed plants, when CTB was constitutively expressed in chloroplasts. Introduced genes were inherited stably in subsequent generations, as confirmed by PCR and Southern blot analyses. Increased production of an efficient transmucosal carrier molecule and delivery system, like CTB, in transgenic chloroplasts makes plant-based oral vaccines and fusion proteins with CTB needing oral administration commercially feasible. Successful expression of foreign genes in transgenic chromoplasts and availability of marker-free chloroplast transformation techniques augurs well for development of vaccines in edible parts of transgenic plants. Furthermore, since the quaternary structure of many proteins is essential for their function, this investigation demonstrates the potential for other foreign multimeric proteins to be properly expressed and assembled in transgenic chloroplasts.