SBIR Phase I: Targeted Production of Spider Silk Fibroins in Plant Trichomes

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将研究在植物毛状体中生产蜘蛛丝丝蛋白的可行性。合成蜘蛛丝作为一种环保生物材料具有巨大的潜力，因为它非常柔韧，而且抗拉强度大于钢。非常需要一种在可再生异源系统中生产蜘蛛丝素蛋白的新策略，以实现有效的收获和回收。正在寻求的机会是利用天然机制在基因可处理的模型植物中生产和纯化蛋白质。我们的具体技术创新是在叶表面结构（称为腺分泌毛）的腺细胞内定向表达蜘蛛丝蛋白，以在植物主体外实现高水平的异源蛋白生产。研究目标是驱动毛状体中蜘蛛丝丝素蛋白的表达，然后研究丝素蛋白回收的新方法。这项工作将证明蜘蛛丝丝蛋白可以通过植物以具有成本效益的方式生产，并将为大规模光合作用生产下一代生物材料奠定基础。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将包括基础研究，以确定在可再生植物基系统中生产革命性工业生物材料的可行性。这些研究的结果不仅证明可以从植物中生产和纯化生物材料，而且对于理解称为腺分泌毛的特殊植物结构的生物合成硬件也具有重大意义。这项工作应该会导致开发出在不使用有毒化学品的情况下实现工业生物材料生产的新方法，并因此可以通过减少在工业过程中使用大量危险化合物的必要性来产生巨大的社会影响。该项目的目标是为环境友好型生物材料的光合作用生产奠定基础。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate the feasibility of producing spider silk fibroins in plant trichomes. Synthetic spider silk has great potential as an environmentally-friendly biomaterial because it is very flexible yet has a tensile strength greater than steel. A great need exists for a novel strategy of spider silk fibroin production in a renewable heterologous system that will allow efficient harvest and recovery. The opportunity that is being pursued is the utilization of a natural mechanism for protein production and purification in a genetically-tractable model plant. Our specific technological innovation is the targeted expression of spider silk proteins within the gland cells of leaf surface structures called glandular secreting trichomes, to achieve high levels of heterologous protein production outside of the main plant body. The research objectives will be to drive the expression of spider silk fibroin in trichomes and then investigate novel methods of fibroin recovery. This work will demonstrate that spider silk fibroins can be produced by plants in a cost-effective manner, and will develop a foundation for the large-scale, photosynthetic production of next-generation biomaterials. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project will consist of fundamental studies to determine the feasibility of producing a revolutionary industrial biomaterial in a renewable, plant-based system. The results of these studies will not only demonstrate that biomaterials can be produced and purified from plants, but they will also have great implications for understanding about the biosynthetic hardware of specialized plant structures called glandular secreting trichomes. This work should lead to the development of novel ways of achieving industrial biomaterial production without the use of toxic chemicals, and could thus have great societal impact by decreasing the necessity of utilizing large amounts of hazardous compounds in industrial processes. The goal of this project is to develop the foundation for the photosynthetic production of environmentally-friendly biomaterials.