Quieting a plant's immune system boosts lab protein output
Kang Y, Xie F, Bai G, Zhao J, Zhang Y
Crispr
Tobacco relatives like Nicotiana benthamiana are the workhorse behind many plant-made vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and understanding why plants resist this process could speed up production of medicines you might one day rely on.
Researchers use a bacterium to sneak new genetic instructions into tobacco plant leaves, tricking the plant into making useful proteins like vaccine ingredients. But it turns out the plant's immune system notices the intrusion and fights back, which cuts down how much protein gets made. By turning off a few of the plant's defense genes, the scientists got the plants to produce noticeably more protein, essentially removing roadblocks the plant was putting up on its own.
Key Findings
Agrobacterium infiltration triggered massive immune activation: 3,529 genes turned up and 2,487 turned down, hitting stress and pathogen-defense pathways.
Silencing both PTI5 and PTI6 defense genes together boosted GFP protein accumulation more than silencing either gene alone.
Plants lacking the EDS1 immune gene (via CRISPR) or expressing NahG (which breaks down salicylic acid) showed markedly higher protein yields, while removing HOS15 had no effect.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found that the plant immune system actively fights off a common lab technique used to make plants produce useful proteins, and by dialing down specific defense genes, they roughly doubled how much protein the plants pumped out. This could make it faster and cheaper to produce plant-based vaccines, antibodies, and other biologics.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Suppression of plant immune responses enhances Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana is widely used for recombinant protein production and gene-function studies. However, agroinfiltration can activate ...
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Nicotiana benthamiana, colloquially known as benth or benthi, is a species of Nicotiana indigenous to Australia. It is a close relative of tobacco.