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Monoclonal antibody engineering in plants
Author(s) -
Hiatt Andrew,
Ma Julian K-C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(92)80904-u
Subject(s) - monoclonal antibody , genetically modified crops , antibody , immunoglobulin light chain , glycosylation , transgene , transformation (genetics) , plant cell , biology , chemistry , gene , biochemistry , genetics
Techniques for plant transformation have been developed to such an extent that a number of foreign genes are currently being introduced into transgenic plants. Tobacco plants that produce monoclonal antibodies are of interest, because in addition to synthesis of two gene products (i.e. the heavy and light chains), the two polypeptides need to be assembled correctly, inorder to result in a functional antibody. The studies on a catalytic antibody suggest that this is the case, and that the antibody functions identically to the native murine‐derived antibody. The only difference observed was in the glycosylation of the heavy chain. Further transgenic plants are being generated to produce monoclonal antibodies that may be used therapeutically (and are therefore required in large quantities), or to provide disease resistance in plants. In addition, the ability of plants to assemble antibody complexes is being investigated further, to study the possibility of generating secretory IgA, which consists of heavy and light chains as wall as two additional polypeptide units.