EAGER: Stable iRNA Vectors for Production of Proteins in Pumpkin Sap

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The project tackles the ongoing need to develop new technology for rapid, large-scale and cost-effective production of therapeutic peptides/proteins such as vaccines – now made even more acute by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using plants to produce biological products offers advantages of speed, low cost and low toxicity, but also disadvantages of low yields and complex purification processes. The PI will investigate a novel RNA vector for molecular determinants of stability that can hinder protein expression, and develop pumpkin as a host for producing large amounts of proteins encoded by this RNA vector. Overcoming hurdles to vaccine production in plants has potential for immense broader impact. The project also offers research training and career development opportunities to a post-doctoral scholar.The research builds on substantive preliminary data indicating that a novel virus-like RNA vector (CYVaV) can be manipulated to control its stability and related properties in host plants. The PI’s team plans to modify CYVaV RNA sequence and secondary structure with the goal of optimizing stable versions of the vector for over-expression of engineered proteins in host plants. Development of a vector platform that can serve to infect a variety of plants for large-scale production of biologics will have broad biotechnological and biomedical applications.This project is funded by the Genetic Mechanisms cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.