Molecular farming

LIBARDO CARABALLO
BLANCO
 MOLECULAR FARMING
Biopharming / Molecular Farming / Gene Farming

• Production of biopharmaceutical and biologic products

for human and animal health in transgenic plants

• The products of molecular farming are increasingly

referred to as plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs)
 Plant derived
pharmaceutical proteins
A typical Molecular Farming project
Plants that are used as host
Maíz, arroz, trigo, soja, tomate, patata,
mostaza, nabo, alfalfa, banana,
tabaco, algas verdes.
 Which plant is the best?
• Tejidos verdes(Tabaco / Alfalfa)
Alfalfa and tobacco leaves can be cut several
times per year biomass 25-100 ton per ha (more protein)
• Tobacco is easy to transform
• Potatoes / Rice / Wheat
• Seed is simple in component so protein can be purified
easily
• Seed or tuber can be store for long time
• Rice level of antibody did not decline significantly after
store at room temperature for 6 months
• Potatoes lost antibody 50% after storage for 18 months
 Porque plantas?
Las plantas tienen una habilidad natural para hacer
proteínas humanas y animales.

Como se hace?

Cuales son las aplicaciones?

Molecular Farming 1 - Medical
proteins

El primer acercamiento del molecular

farming es la producción en masa de
proteínas medicas de alto valor
( como por ejemplo: insulina,
interferon, hormona del crecimiento,
anticuerpos, proteínas de la sangre,
etc.) aun bajo costo.
 Molecular Farming 2 -
Industrial enzymes

El segundo acercamiento al molecular farming es

particularmente atractivo para la producción de
proteínas cuando no es necesario un alto grado de
purificación.
 Molecular Farming 3 - Edible
Vaccine

Las vacunas comestibles pueden ser

usadas en lugar de la mayoría de las
vacunas inyectadas.
Vacunas en plantas
 Subunit vaccine
 Specific macromolecules that induce a
protective immune response against pathogen
 Advantage: safer than traditional vaccine b/c
only part is used
 Disadvantage
• Expensive to produce
• Not heat stable
 Advantage of plant-based
vaccine production
• Simple: sunlight / mineral / water
• Plant cell can correctly process proteins that are
complex
• No contamination with animal pathogen
• Heat stable environment (No need for
refrigerator)
• Enable oral delivery (No pain and hazard of
injection)
• Bio-encapsulation
 History of antigen
production in plants
PLANT DERIVED VACCINE
• 1990 Streptococcus surface antigen in
tobacco
• Hepatitis B antigen in tobacco / lettuce
• Rabies antigen in tomato
• Cholera antigen in tobacco / potatoes
• Human cytomegalovirus antigen in
tobacco
• Norwark virus antigen in potatoes
• Foot and mouse disease in Arabidopsis
 Clinical trial of edible
vaccine in human
10/11
Immune
Treatment 50-
response
100grTransgeni
c potatoes

Transgenc Potatoes expressing

part of toxin from E.coli

Control
0/3
normal
No inmune
potatoes respose
 VENTAJAS Y DESVENTAJAS
VENTAJAS
• Las plantas no transportas patógenos que puedan se
perjudiciales para la salud humana.
• No proteínas en plantas que sean similares a las
humanas.
• Las plantas tienen relaciones cerradas con animales y
humanos los cuales pueden procesar y configurar
correctamente sus proteínas.
DESVENTAJAS

• Molecular farming es una aplicación de la

ingeniería genética.
Different steps to generate transgenic plants suitable for molecular farming of pharmaceuticals: (a) choice of a target gene and
insertion into plant expression vector; (b) transfer of the expression construct into Agrobacterium tumefaciens; (c) plant
transformation and selection under sterile condition; (d) generation of transgenic plants; (e) verification of protein accumulation,
e.g. by Western blot, ELISA, microscopy; (f) functional proof in animal model, e.g. testing antibody formation after vaccination; (g)
clinical studies; and (h) further development of the product and of the downstream processing technology as well as up scaling-
up. P, promoter; G, gene; T, terminator.