Effect of subcellular targeting on the expression and accumulation of Griffithsin in N. benthamiana

Abstract

Due to the increasing demand for pharmaceuticals and the high cost of production in traditional fermentor systems, plants are being considered as alternative production platforms for therapeutic molecules. One of the considerations for production of a recombinant protein in a plant is the choice of plant host, vector system and targeting of the protein to a specific cell compartment. All these can hugely influence the yield, functionality and downstream purification of the recombinant protein. Griffithsin (GRFT), a lectin isolated from the red algae Griffithsia, has shown extreme potency against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in vitro in very low quantities (Mori et al., 2005). The molecular target of GRFT is the high mannose residues on the viral gp120 coat protein. Low cost production of GRFT and other anti-HIV drugs at minimal costs is crucial seeing that the high demand for anti-HIV drugs reside in poor developing countries. This study investigates the production of GRFT in N. benthamiana tobacco and evaluates the effect of subcellular targeting on yield, functionality and toxicity on the host system