Plant viral vectors have great potential in rapid production of important pharmaceutical proteins. However, high-yield production of heterooligomeric proteins that require the expression and assembly of two or more protein subunits often suffers problems due to the “competing” nature of viral vectors derived from the same virus. Previously we reported that a bean yellow dwarf virus (BeYDV)-derived, three-component DNA replicon system allows rapid production of single recombinant proteins in plants (Huang et al. 2009). In this article, we report further development of this expression system for its application in high-yield production of oligomeric protein complexes including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in plants. We showed that the BeYDV replicon system permits simultaneous efficient replication of two DNA replicons and thus, high-level accumulation of two recombinant proteins in the same plant cell. We also demonstrated that a single vector that contains multiple replicon cassettes was as efficient as the three-component system in driving the expression of two distinct proteins. Using either the non-competing, three-vector system or the multi-replicon single vector, we produced both the heavy and light chain subunits of a protective IgG mAb 6D8 against Ebola virus GP1 (Wilson et al. 2000) at 0.5 mg of mAb per gram leaf fresh weight within 4 days post infiltration of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. We further demonstrated that full-size tetrameric IgG complex containing two heavy and two light chains was efficiently assembled and readily purified, and retained its functionality in specific binding to inactivated Ebola virus. Thus, our single-vector replicon system provides high-yield production capacity for heterooligomeric proteins, yet eliminates the difficult task of identifying non-competing virus and the need for co-infection of multiple expression modules. The multi-replicon vector represents a significant advance in transient expression technology for antibody production in plants.

Proteins are widely regarded as insulators, despite reports of electrical conductivity. Here we use measurements of single proteins between electrodes, in their natural aqueous environment to show that the factor controlling measured conductance is the nature of the electrical contact to the protein, and that specific ligands make highly selective electrical contacts. Using six proteins that lack known electrochemical activity, and measuring in a potential region where no ion current flows, we find characteristic peaks in the distributions of measured single-molecule conductances. These peaks depend on the contact chemistry, and hence, on the current path through the protein. In consequence, the measured conductance distribution is sensitive to changes in this path caused by ligand binding, as shown with streptavidin–biotin complexes. Measured conductances are on the order of nanosiemens over distances of many nanometers, orders of magnitude more than could be accounted for by electron tunneling. The current is dominated by contact resistance, so the conductance for a given path is independent of the distance between electrodes, as long as the contact points on the protein can span the gap between electrodes. While there is no currently known biological role for high electronic conductance, its dependence on specific contacts has important technological implications, because no current is observed at all without at least one strongly bonded contact, so direct electrical detection is a highly selective and label-free single-molecule detection method. We demonstrate single-molecule, highly specific, label- and background free-electronic detection of IgG antibodies to HIV and Ebola viruses.

Over the past decade, West Nile virus (WNV) has spread to all 48 of the lower United States as well as to parts of Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America, with outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease occurring annually. At present, no therapeutic or vaccine is available for human use. Epidemics of WNV and other emerging infectious disease threats demand cost-efficient and scalable production technologies that can rapidly transfer effective therapeutics into the clinical setting. We have previously reported that Hu-E16, a humanized anti-WNV mAb, binds to a highly conserved epitope on the envelope protein, blocks viral fusion, and shows promising postexposure therapeutic activity. Herein, we generated a plant-derived Hu-E16 mAb that can be rapidly scaled up for commercial production. Plant Hu-E16 was expressed at high levels within 8 days of infiltration in Nicotiana benthamiana plants and retained high-affinity binding and potent neutralizing activity in vitro against WNV. A single dose of plant Hu-E16 protected mice against WNV-induced mortality even 4 days after infection at rates that were indistinguishable from mammalian-cell-produced Hu-E16. This study demonstrates the efficacy of a plant-produced mAb against a potentially lethal infection several days after exposure in an animal challenge model and provides a proof of principle for the development of plant-derived mAbs as therapy against emerging infectious diseases.

Mammalian cell culture is the major platform for commercial production of human vaccines and therapeutic proteins. However, it cannot meet the increasing worldwide demand for pharmaceuticals due to its limited scalability and high cost. Plants have shown to be one of the most promising alternative pharmaceutical production platforms that are robust, scalable, low-cost and safe. The recent development of virus-based vectors has allowed rapid and high-level transient expression of recombinant proteins in plants. To further optimize the utility of the transient expression system, we demonstrate a simple, efficient and scalable methodology to introduce target-gene containing Agrobacterium into plant tissue in this study. Our results indicate that agroinfiltration with both syringe and vacuum methods have resulted in the efficient introduction of Agrobacterium into leaves and robust production of two fluorescent proteins; GFP and DsRed. Furthermore, we demonstrate the unique advantages offered by both methods. Syringe infiltration is simple and does not need expensive equipment. It also allows the flexibility to either infiltrate the entire leave with one target gene, or to introduce genes of multiple targets on one leaf. Thus, it can be used for laboratory scale expression of recombinant proteins as well as for comparing different proteins or vectors for yield or expression kinetics. The simplicity of syringe infiltration also suggests its utility in high school and college education for the subject of biotechnology. In contrast, vacuum infiltration is more robust and can be scaledup for commercial manufacture of pharmaceutical proteins. It also offers the advantage of being able to agroinfiltrate plant species that are not amenable for syringe infiltration such as lettuce and Arabidopsis. Overall, the combination of syringe and vacuum agroinfiltration provides researchers and educators a simple, efficient, and robust methodology for transient protein expression. It will greatly facilitate the development of pharmaceutical proteins and promote science education. Video LinkThe video component of this article can be found at

Summary Filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg viruses) cause severe and often fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates. The US Centers for Disease Control identify Ebola and Marburg viruses as “category A” pathogens (defined as posing a risk to national security as bioterrorism agents), which has lead to a search for vaccines that could prevent the disease. Because the use of such vaccines would be in the service of public health, the cost of production is an important component of their development. The use of plant biotechnology is one possible way to cost-effectively produce subunit vaccines. In this work, a geminiviral replicon system was used to produce an Ebola immune complex (EIC) in Nicotiana benthamiana. Ebola glycoprotein (GP1) was fused at the C-terminus of the heavy chain of humanized 6D8 IgG monoclonal antibody, which specifically binds to a linear epitope on GP1. Co-expression of the GP1-heavy chain fusion and the 6D8 light chain using a geminiviral vector in leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana produced assembled immunoglobulin, which was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and protein G affinity chromatography. Immune complex formation was confirmed by assays to show that the recombinant protein bound the complement factor C1q. Size measurements of purified recombinant protein by dynamic light scattering and size exclusion chromatography also indicated complex formation. Subcutaneous immunization of BALB/C mice with purified EIC resulted in anti-Ebola virus antibody production at levels comparable to those obtained with a GP1 virus-like particle. These results show excellent potential for a plant-expressed EIC as a human vaccine.