Expression of human milk proteins in transgenic plants
AssigneeVentria Bioscience
InventorsNing Huang, Raymond L. Rodriguez, Frank E. Hagie
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention is directed to seed and seed extract compositions containing levels of a human milk protein between 3-40% or higher of the total protein weight of the soluble protein extractable from the seed. Also disclosed is a method of producing the seed with high levels of extractable human milk protein. The method includes transforming a monocotyledonous plant with a chimeric gene having a protein-coding sequence encoding a protein normally present in human milk under the control of a seed maturation-specific promoter. The method may further includes a leader DNA sequence encoding a monocot seed-specific transit sequence capable to target a linked milk protein to a storage body.
Claims27
A mature, transgenic monocot seed that yields, by extracting ground seed with an aqueous medium, a total soluble protein fraction containing at least 3% by total protein weight of a human milk protein.
A milk-protein composition comprising
- a total soluble protein fraction (i) obtained from a mature, transgenic, monocot seed by extracting a ground seed with an aqueous medium, and (ii) containing at least 3% by total protein weight of a human milk protein.
The composition of 11, wherein the human milk protein is selected from the group consisting of lysozyme, lactoferrin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, and kappa-casein.
A method of producing a recombinant human milk protein in monocot plant seeds comprising the steps of:
- (a) obtaining a monocot plant stably transformed with a chimeric gene having (i) a transcriptional regulatory region from a monocot gene having a seed maturation-specific promoter, (ii) operably linked to said transcriptional regulatory region, a leader DNA sequence encoding a monocot seed-specific transit sequence capable of targeting a linked polypeptide to an endosperm-cell organelle, and (iii) a protein-coding sequence encoding a protein normally present in human milk, and
- (b) cultivating the plant under seed-maturation conditions.
- (c) harvesting the seeds from the plant, wherein the human milk protein constitutes at least 3% of the total soluble protein contained in the harvested seeds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.