Genetic Engineering of the Plastid Genome for the Efficient Production of Proteins of Biotechnological Importance

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing remarkable changes with the discovery and introduction of new biotech drugs. However, the production of biotech drugs is both complicated and time-consuming. This is mainly due to production costs using traditiona l cell culture methods. To overcome this plants could be used as biofactories to produce therapeutic proteins for use in the manufacture of biotech drugs. The most efficient and environmentally safe way to produce proteins of biotechnological value in pla nts is to insert the protein-encoding genes into the plastid (organelle) genome thereby generating transplastomic plants. The production of proteins in plastids offers a highly efficient and cost-effective way of producing large quantities (up to 47% of t otal cellular protein content) of proteins for the biotech industry. We have recently developed a new antibiotics-free selection and regeneration method for the efficient production of transplastomic plants (UK Patent no. 0625076.5) and the commercial de velopment of this research is funded by The NRC FORNY programme (2007-2009). Despite our advances it is now critical to continue to develop the potential of this new genetic system. In this proposal we will use functional genomic approaches to engineer th e plastid genome in tobacco plants in terms of codon usage efficiency so that any protein of non-plant origin (Human, Mouse, Salmon, Cod, Malaria etc) can be produced to maximum levels. The aim of the proposed research project is to engineer the tobacco plastid genome to encode a series of tRNAs to allow for efficient expression of proteins of non-plant origin to be produced to maximal levels within plastids. The described research has clear applications where highly efficient biofactories (plastids) wi ll be generated for the production of any protein(s) of non-plant origin. As part of the project we will file patents to protect the system in collaboration with the Technology Transfer Office at the university.