Advanced technology for production of foreign proteins in plant cell and organ cultures

该项目的目的是开发利用植物组织培养体外生产药用蛋白的新技术。目前，利用生物反应器中的重组植物系统生产抗体等动物蛋白；然而，使用转基因病毒的瞬时基因表达具有一系列潜在的好处，可以显著提高外来蛋白的滴度。由于病毒可以迅速侵染植物组织，并且可以被放大到极高的水平，这种体外合成外源蛋白质的新方法具有相当大的前景。该项目将把现有的植物组织培养科学扩展到具有商业潜力的新领域。

The aim of this project is to develop new technology for in vitro production of pharmaceutical proteins using plant tissue culture. Animal proteins such as antibodies are currently being produced using recombinant plant systems in bioreactors; however, transient gene expression using genetically-modified viruses has a range of potential benefits for substantially increasing foreign protein titres. Because viruses rapidly infect plant tissues and can be amplified to extremely high levels, this new method for in vitro foreign protein synthesis has considerable promise. This project will extend the existing science of plant tissue culture into new areas with commercial potential.