Expression of Mn-sod, PAL1, aos1 and HPL genes in soybean plants overexpressing the NmDef02 defensin.

Plant defensins are a potential tool in crop improvement programs through biotechnology. Their antifungal action makes them attractive molecules for the production of transgenic plants. Information is currently lacking on what happens to the expression of defense genes in transgenic plants that overexpress a defensin.

Field Resistance to and of Transgenic Soybean Expressing the Plant Defensin Gene.

Fungal diseases lead to significant losses in soybean yields and a decline in seed quality; such is the case of the Asian soybean rust and anthracnose caused by and , respectively. Currently, the development of transgenic plants carrying antifungal defensins offers an alternative for plant protection against pathogens. This paper shows the production of transgenic soybean plants expressing the defensin gene using the biolistic delivery system, in an attempt to improve resistance against diseases and reduce the need for chemicals.

NmDef02, a novel antimicrobial gene isolated from Nicotiana megalosiphon confers high-level pathogen resistance under greenhouse and field conditions.

Plant defensins are small cysteine-rich peptides that inhibit the growth of a broad range of microbes. In this article, we describe NmDef02, a novel cDNA encoding a putative defensin isolated from Nicotiana megalosiphon upon inoculation with the tobacco blue mould pathogen Peronospora hyoscyami f.sp.

Production of plantibodies in Nicotiana plants.

Because of the wide use and high demand in medicine, monoclonal antibodies are among the main recombinant pharmaceuticals at present, although present limitations of the productive platforms for monoclonal antibodies are driving the improvement of the large-scale technologies and the development of alternative expression systems. This has drawn the attention on plants as expression system for monoclonal antibodies and related derivatives, owning the capacity of plants to properly express and process eukaryotic proteins with biological activity resembling that of the natural proteins. In this chapter, the procedures from the isolation of the monoclonal antibody genes to the biochemical and biological characterization of the plant-expressed monoclonal antibody are described.

An integral approach towards a practical application for a plant-made monoclonal antibody in vaccine purification.

The use of transgenic plants for the production of pharmaceutical compounds has received increasing attention in the last few years. However, many technological and regulatory issues regarding the practical exploitation of this alternative system of production remain to be solved; a situation that explains the lack of commercial products derived from such a system. This paper reports the expression in transgenic plants and cells of a single-chain antibody variable-region fragment (scFv) and a mouse monoclonal antibody to the hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg).