An improved bioproduction system for proteins and small molecules

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Global demand for quantities of vaccines and therapeutic molecules is growing. Plants, in particular, are the source of a great diversity of biologically active small molecules and a great many natural products found in plants are used as human therapies. However, these chemicals are often found in low abundance or are produced in species that are difficult to mass-cultivate requiring either chemical synthesis or the transfer of the genetic pathway to an alternative biological host in order to produce compounds at sufficient quantities. While microorganisms have proven to be exceptionally powerful for manufacturing therapies, some are not easily produced in high yields. There is particular interest in platforms that are able to respond rapidly to new disease threats, for example, the production of vaccines. Plants have been shown to be capable of efficient expression of therapeutic proteins and secondary metabolites. In a process commonly known as 'molecular pharming' plants have been demonstrated to be capable of producing a very large number of vaccine doses in just a few weeks. Gene expression can be complicated by the endogenous metabolism of the host diverting intermediates or performing unwanted modifications of expressed molecules. Much work has been done to tailor specific strains of bacteria and yeasts to increase production of compounds. However, to date, little effort has been spent on improving the plant production chassis, partly due to a lack of available tools. New technologies now allow us to take targeted approaches to modifying plant genes. We have identified genes expressed by the plant that are likely to be deleterious to heterologous bioproduction of small molecules. We will now make new lines of Nicotiana benthamiana, a relative of tobacco from Northern Australia, that are improved in their ability to produce small molecules of interest. We will then measure the impact of the changes that we have made by assessing the ability of our new lines to produce greater quantities of desirable new proteins and metabolites. This work will add to our knowledge of the metabolism of plants, helping us to understand how it responds to perturbation. It will also lead towards the production of plants that are genetically tailored for the production of different classes of therapeutic molecules