Improvements in Human Health Through Production of Human Milk Proteins in Transgenic Food Plants

Abstract

12Plants are particularly suitable bioreactors for the production of proteins, as their eukaryotic nature frequently directs the appropriate post-translational modifications of recombinant proteins to retain native biological activity. The autotrophic growth of plants makes this in vivo biosynthesis system economically competitive for supplementation or replacement of conventional production systems in the future. For the production of biologically active proteins, food plants provide the advantage of direct delivery via consumption of transformed plant tissues. Here we describe the production of recombinant human milk proteins in food plants for improvements in human nutrition and health, with emphasis on enhanced nutrition for non-breast fed infants as well as children and adults. Nutritional improvements in edible plants generated through advancements in recombinant DNA technology are rapidly repositioning the world for enjoyment of a more healthful diet for humans in all age groups .

Human lactoferrin: a novel therapeutic with broad spectrum potential

“…Production of recombinant human Lf has been reported in a variety of organisms. These include baby hamster kidney cells (Stowell et al 1991), Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus awamori (Ward et al 1992(Ward et al , 1995, Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Liang & Richardson 1993), transgenic dairy animals (Krimpenfort 1993) and transgenic potatoes and tomatoes (Arakawa et al 1999). In the A. awamori fermentation, quantities in excess of 25 µ have been obtained.…”

Milk intelligence: Mining milk for bioactive substances associated with human health

“…Indeed, many milk components are now being exploited as health-promoting ingredients in other food systems. An extreme example is the production of recombinant human milk proteins in plants with a view to developing food products with enhanced nutrition for formula-fed infants as well as older children and adults (Arakawa, Chong, Slattery, & Langridge, 1999). Milk oligosaccharides have been shown to modulate both the intestinal microbiota and the immune response, thus playing key roles in defence against infection and allergy development in formula-fed infants.…”

Production of human lactoferrin in transgenic cell suspension cultures of sweet potato

“…hLF also prevents the growth of pathogens, exerts antibacterial and antiviral properties, controls cell and tissue damage caused by oxidation, and facilitates iron transport (Arakawa et al 1999). In an attempt to produce hLF on a large scale, recombinant hLF has been used in various systems, including transgenic yeast (Liang and Richardson 1993) and cows (Van Berkel et al 2002).…”