Preparation of heterologous proteins on oil bodies

A method for producing an altered seed meal by producing a heterologous polypeptide in association with a plant seed oil body fraction, said method comprising:

• a) introducing into a plant cell a chimeric nucleic acid sequence comprising:
• 1) a first nucleic acid sequence capable of regulating the transcription in said plant cell of
• 2) a second nucleic acid sequence wherein said second sequence encodes a fusion polypeptide and comprises (i) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a sufficient portion of a plant oil body protein gene to provide targeting of the fusion polypeptide to an oil body, linked in reading frame to (ii) a nucleic acid sequence encoding the heterologous polypeptide and
• 3) a third nucleic acid sequence encoding a termination region;
• b) regenerating a plant from said plant cell and growing said plant to produce seed whereby said heterologous polypeptide is expressed and associated with oil bodies;
• and
• c) crushing said seed and preparing an altered seed meal.

A method for the expression of a heterologous polypeptide by a plant host cell said method comprising:

• a) generating by homologous recombination into a plant host cell a chimeric nucleic acid sequence comprising:
• 1) a first nucleic acid sequence capable of regulating transcription in said host cell
• 2) a second nucleic acid sequence, wherein said second sequence encodes a fusion polypeptide and comprises (i) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a sufficient amount of a plant oil body protein gene to provide targeting of the fusion polypeptide to a lipid phase, linked in reading frame to (ii) a nucleic acid sequence encoding the heterologous polypeptide;
• and
• 3) a third nucleic acid sequence encoding a termination region functional in the host cell;
• and
• b) growing said host cell to produce the heterologous polypeptide.

A chimeric nucleic acid sequence, capable of being expressed in association with an oil body of a plant host cell comprising:

• 1) a first nucleic acid sequence capable of regulating the transcription in said host cell of
• 2) a second nucleic acid sequence, wherein said second sequence encodes a fusion polypeptide and comprises (i) a nucleic acid sequence encoding a sufficient portion of a plant oil body protein gene to provide targeting of the fusion polypeptide to a lipid phase linked in reading frame to (ii) a nucleic acid sequence encoding the heterologous polypeptide;
• and
• 3) a third nucleic acid sequence encoding a termination region functional in the host cell.