Black rot is a severe disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc), which can lead to substantial losses in cruciferous vegetable production worldwide. Although the use of resistant cultivars is the main strategy to control this disease, there are limited sources of resistance. In this study, we used the LC-MS/MS technique to analyze young cabbage leaves and chloroplast-enriched samples at 24 h after infection by Xcc, using both susceptible (Veloce) and resistant (Astrus) cultivars. A comparison between susceptible Xcc-inoculated plants and the control condition, as well as between resistant Xcc-inoculated plants with the control was performed and more than 300 differentially abundant proteins were identified in each comparison. The chloroplast enriched samples contributed with the identification of 600 additional protein species in the resistant interaction and 900 in the susceptible one, which were not detected in total leaf sample. We further determined the expression levels for 30 genes encoding the identified differential proteins by qRT-PCR. CHI-B4 like gene, encoding an endochitinase showing a high increased abundance in resistant Xcc-inoculated leaves, was selected for functional validation by overexpression in Arabidopsis thaliana. Compared to the wild type (Col-0), transgenic plants were highly resistant to Xcc indicating that CHI-B4 like gene could be an interesting candidate to be used in genetic breeding programs aiming at black rot resistance.

an improvement of critical features, including transcription, translation and post-translational modifications, in plant cells could make plant systems a safe and economical alternative for biopharmaceutical production. Hence, in this review, the most recent advances influencing the upstream and downstream processes involved in recombinant protein accumulation in plant cells are described. We also discuss how plant systems are becoming the benchmark for the production of several biopharmaceuticals.Keywords Heterologous expression · Host systems · Post-translational modifications · Plant-based pharmaceuticals · Recombinant protein identification and characterization of a promising regulatory pathway for the large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals could strongly contribute to the benefits of this system (Fischer et al. 2012). Molecular pharming technology presents several advantages, including (a) the production of low-cost biomass; (b) end-products lacking human toxicity; (c) the accumulation of complex proteins with correct and proper folding; and (d) straightforward methods for protein purification (Moustafa et al. 2015). Furthermore, molecular pharming offers a flexible, scalable and diverse alternative method for producing new, Abstract The use of plant systems as factories for recombinant protein production became a prominent alternative for pharmaceutical industries due to their high potential for protein accumulation. In the last decades, the application of plants for protein production has gained more attention, as plants represent an economic strategy that leads to high levels of purified and active proteins for the pharmaceutical sector. Currently, FDA approval of the first generation of recombinant proteins produced in carrot cells, taliglucerase alfa, demonstrated that plant cells have a significant capacity to express complex proteins for therapeutic use. Although plant systems still have technical and economic barriers that require improvements in future years, the optimization of upstream and downstream components affecting protein accumulation is considered a key feature in the development of new pharmaceutical proteins. Therefore,

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The natural increase of the world’s population implies boosting agricultural demand. In the current non-optimistic global scenario, where adverse climate changes come associated with substantial population growth, the main challenge in agribusiness is food security. Recently, the CRISPR/Cas system has emerged as a friendly gene editing biotechnological tool, enabling a precise manipulation of genomes and enhancement of desirable traits in several organisms. This review highlights the CRISPR/Cas system as a paramount tool for the improvement of agribusiness products and brings up-to-date findings showing its potential applications in improving agricultural-related traits in major plant crops and farm animals, all representing economic-relevant commodities responsible for feeding the world. Several applied pieces of research have successfully demonstrated the CRISPR/Cas ability in boosting interesting traits in agribusiness products, including animal productivity and welfare, crop yield growth, and seed quality, reflecting positive impacts in both socioeconomics and human health aspects. Hence, the CRISPR/Cas system has revolutionized bioscience and biotechnology, and its concrete application in agribusiness goods is on the horizon.