Expression of human serum albumin (HSA) in monocot seeds

A method of producing human serum albumin (HSA) in monocot plant seeds, comprising the steps of:

• (a) transforming a monocot plant cell with a chimeric gene comprising
• (i) a promoter from the gene of a maturation-specific monocot plant storage protein, wherein the promoter comprises SEQ ID NO.:8,
• (ii) a first DNA sequence, operably linked to the promoter, encoding a signal sequence, and
• (iii) a second DNA sequence, linked in translation frame with the first DNA sequence, encoding HSA, wherein the first DNA sequence and the second DNA sequence together encode a fusion protein comprising an N-terminal signal sequence and the HSA;
• (b) growing a monocot plant from the transformed monocot plant cell for a time sufficient to produce seeds containing the HSA;
• and
• (c) harvesting the seeds from the plant,
• wherein the HSA constitutes at least about 10% of the total soluble protein in the harvested seeds.