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[SANET-MG] production of monoclonal antibodies in crops



The paper below opens new vistas in polluting food crops. Monoclonal antibodies are known to be highly toxic and should only be used in clinical (not food production) environments. Here , two viruses TMV and potato virus X are modified to produce complete antibodies for therapy. Modified crops can nearly instantly produce quantities of the specific antibodies to deal with pandemic or terrorism events. Of course, the most terrifying scenario, pollution of potato crops in not discussed. Of course, Bayer would never dream of polluting food crops with transgenes :'(
Published online before print September 14, 2006, 10.1073/pnas.0606631103
PNAS | October 3, 2006 | vol. 103 | no. 40 | 14701-14706
Anatoli Giritch*, Sylvestre Marillonnet*, Carola Engler*, Gerben van Eldik{dagger}, Johan Botterman{dagger}, Victor Klimyuk*, and Yuri Gleba*,{ddagger}

*Icon Genetics GmbH, Weinbergweg 22, 06120 Halle, Germany; and {dagger}Bayer BioScience N.V., Technologiepark 38, B-9052 Gent, Belgium Plant viral vectors allow expression of heterologous proteins at high yields, but so far, they have been unable to express heterooligomeric proteins efficiently. We describe here a rapid and indefinitely scalable process for high-level expression of functional full-size mAbs of the IgG class in plants. The process relies on synchronous co-infection and co-replication of two viral vectors, each expressing a separate antibody chain. The two vectors are derived from two different plant viruses that were found to be noncompeting. Unlike vectors derived from the same virus, noncompeting vectors effectively coexpress the heavy and light chains in the same cell throughout the plant body, resulting in yields of up to 0.5 g of assembled mAbs per kg of fresh-leaf biomass. This technology allows production of gram quantities of mAbs for research purposes in just several days, and the same protocol can be used on an industrial scale in situations requiring rapid response, such as pandemic or terrorism events.

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