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素蛋白的可行性。合成蜘蛛丝作为一种环境友好的生物材料具有巨大的潜力，因为它非常灵活，但拉伸强度大于钢。非常需要在可再生的异源系统中生产蜘蛛丝丝心蛋白的新策略，其将允许有效的收获和回收。正在寻求的机会是利用天然机制在遗传学上易于处理的模式植物中进行蛋白质生产和纯化。我们的具体技术创新是在称为腺分泌毛状体的叶表面结构的腺细胞内靶向表达蛛丝蛋白，以实现在主要植物体外高水平的异源蛋白生产。本研究的目标是驱动蜘蛛丝素蛋白在毛状体中的表达，然后研究新的丝素蛋白回收方法。这项工作将证明蜘蛛丝素蛋白可以由植物以具有成本效益的方式生产，并将为下一代生物材料的大规模光合生产奠定基础。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将包括基础研究，以确定在可再生的植物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了生物材料可以从植物中生产和纯化，而且它们还将对理解称为腺体分泌毛状体的专门植物结构的生物合成硬件产生重大影响。这项工作应导致开发实现工业生物材料生产而不使用有毒化学品的新方法，并因此通过减少在工业过程中使用大量危险化合物的必要性而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.