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Biomedical subjects

Yuri Gleba

Publications and source records attributed to Yuri Gleba.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Immunoabsorbent nanoparticles based on a tobamovirus displaying protein A.

Earlier attempts to express peptides longer than 20 aa on the surface of tobamoviruses such as tobacco mosaic virus have failed. Surprisingly, we found that a functional fragment of protein A (133 aa) can be displayed on the surface of a tobamovirus as a C-terminal fusion to the coat protein via a 15-aa linker. The macromolecular nature of these nanoparticles allowed the design of a simple protocol for purification of mAbs with a recovery yield of 50% and > 90% product purity. The extremely dense packing of protein A on the nanoparticles (> 2,100 copies per viral particle) results in an immunoadsorbent with a binding capacity of 2 g mAb per g. This characteristic, combined with the high level of expression of the nanoparticles (> 3 g adsorbent per kg of leaf biomass), provides a very inexpensive self-assembling matrix that could meet the criteria for a single-use industrial immunoadsorbent for antibody purification.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Rapid high-yield expression of full-size IgG antibodies in plants coinfected with noncompeting viral vectors.

Plant viral vectors allow expression of heterologous proteins at high yields, but so far, they have been unable to express heterooligomeric proteins efficiently. We describe here a rapid and indefinitely scalable process for high-level expression of functional full-size mAbs of the IgG class in plants. The process relies on synchronous coinfection and coreplication of two viral vectors, each expressing a separate antibody chain. The two vectors are derived from two different plant viruses that were found to be noncompeting. Unlike vectors derived from the same virus, noncompeting vectors effectively coexpress the heavy and light chains in the same cell throughout the plant body, resulting in yields of up to 0.5 g of assembled mAbs per kg of fresh-leaf biomass. This technology allows production of gram quantities of mAbs for research purposes in just several days, and the same protocol can be used on an industrial scale in situations requiring rapid response, such as pandemic or terrorism events.

Animals↗

Genetic transformation of plastids of different Solanaceae species using tobacco cells as organelle hosts.

The plastid genome of angiosperms represents an attractive target for genetic manipulations. However plastid transformation of higher plants, especially of agriculturally valuable crops is an extremely difficult problem. Transformation protocols developed for tobacco 15 years ago failed to produce similar results with more than a handful of other species so far. We have analyzed plastid transformability of remote cytoplasmic hybrids (cybrids) that combine nuclei of tobacco, an easily transformable species, and plastids of some other, recalcitrant Solanaceae species. Here, we demonstrate that the plastids of five species of Solanaceae family, representing two subfamilies and three tribes, can be easily transformed if the plastids of these species are transferred into a cell of a transformable species (tobacco). The results can be considered to be an alternative approach to the development of plastid transformation technologies for recalcitrant species using a transformable intermediary ("clipboard") host.

Chimera↗

Protection conferred by recombinant Yersinia pestis antigens produced by a rapid and highly scalable plant expression system.

Plague is still an endemic disease in different regions of the world. Increasing reports of incidence, the discovery of antibiotic resistance strains, and concern about a potential use of the causative bacteria Yersinia pestis as an agent of biological warfare have highlighted the need for a safe, efficacious, and rapidly producible vaccine. The use of F1 and V antigens and the derived protein fusion F1-V has shown great potential as a protective vaccine in animal studies. Plants have been extensively studied for the production of pharmaceutical proteins as an inexpensive and scalable alternative to common expression systems. In the current study the recombinant plague antigens F1, V, and fusion protein F1-V were produced by transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana by using a deconstructed tobacco mosaic virus-based system that allowed very rapid and extremely high levels of expression. All of the plant-derived purified antigens, administered s.c. to guinea pigs, generated systemic immune responses and provided protection against an aerosol challenge of virulent Y. pestis.

Aerosols↗

Production of cybrids in Brassicaceae species.

This chapter describes a method of cytoplasm transfer within the brassicaceae family through Ca-PEG-mediated protoplast fusion. The method includes a protocol of nonmutagenic albinism induction based on spectinomycin-induced plastid ribosome deficiency (PRD). The proposed application of spectinomycin-mediated albinism allows speeding up creation of albino lines, as well as of hybrid production with substituted cytoplasm. According to described method cybrids between Orychophragmus violaceus and Brassica napus, O. violaceus and Lesquerella fendleri have been produced. Methods of further molecular analysis are also presented. The time-scale and reliability of described methods are indicated.

Brassicaceae↗

Systemic Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transfection of viral replicons for efficient transient expression in plants.

Plant biotechnology relies on two approaches for delivery and expression of heterologous genes in plants: stable genetic transformation and transient expression using viral vectors. Although much faster, the transient route is limited by low infectivity of viral vectors carrying average-sized or large genes. We have developed constructs for the efficient delivery of RNA viral vectors as DNA precursors and show here that Agrobacterium-mediated delivery of these constructs results in gene amplification in all mature leaves of a plant simultaneously (systemic transfection). This process, called "magnifection", can be performed on a large scale and with different plant species. This technology combines advantages of three biological systems (the transfection efficiency of A. tumefaciens, the high expression yield obtained with viral vectors, and the post-translational capabilities of a plant), does not require genetic modification of plants and is faster than other existing methods.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens↗

Transfer of transformed chloroplasts from Nicotiana tabacum to the Lycium barbarum plants.

Plastid transformation is an attractive technology for obtaining crop plants with new useful characteristics and for fundamental researches of plastid functioning and nuclear-plastid interaction. The aim of our experiments was to obtain plants with Lycium barbarum nucleus and transformed Nicotiana tabacum plastids. Plastome of previously engineered transplastomic tobacco plants contains reporter uidA gene and selective aadA gene that confers resistance to antibiotics spectinomycin and streptomycin. Asymmetric somatic hybridization was performed for transferring transformed tobacco plastids from transplastomic tobacco plants into recipient L. barbarum wild type plants. Hybrid L. barbarum plants containing transformed tobacco plastome with active aadA and uidA genes were obtained as a result of the experiments. The work shows the possibility of obtaining transplastomic plants by transferring the transformed plastids to remote species by using somatic hybridization technology. The developed technique is especially effective for obtaining transplastomic plants that have low regeneration and transformation ability.

Chloroplasts↗

High-yield production of authentic human growth hormone using a plant virus-based expression system.

We describe here a high-yield transient expression system for the production of human growth hormone (hGH, or somatotropin) in transfected Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. The system is based on a recently described plant virus-based modular expression vector [Gleba, Y., Marillonnet, S. and Klimyuk, V. (2004) Engineering viral expression vectors for plants: the 'full virus' and the 'deconstructed virus' strategies. Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 7, 182-188; Marillonnet, S., Giritch, A., Gils, M., Kandzia, R., Klimyuk, V. and Gleba, Y. (2004) In planta engineering of viral RNA replicons: efficient assembly by recombination of DNA modules delivered by Agrobacterium. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101, 6852-6857], and represents a simple and fast alternative to stable transformation. By using various combinations of provector modules, hGH was produced in three compartments of the cell: the apoplast, the chloroplast and the cytosol. We found that targeting to the apoplast provided the highest amount of correctly processed and biologically active hGH, with a yield of up to 10% of total soluble protein or 1 mg per gram of fresh weight leaf biomass. These results indicate that the use of viral vectors for high-yield production of human therapeutic proteins in plants by transient expression provides an attractive alternative to production protocols using standard expression vectors in transgenic or transplastomic plants.

Journal Article↗

Affinity purification of streptavidin using tobacco mosaic virus particles as purification tags.

A new protein affinity purification system has been developed. Recombinant tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was used as an affinity matrix for isolation and purification of the given protein of interest. In model experiments, streptavidin-specific heptapeptide sequence TLIAHPQ was inserted into TMV coat protein near the C end. This oligopeptide did not interfere significantly with viral replication, assembly, and movement. Recombinant TMV functioned as an epitope tag recognizing streptavidin in plant protein extracts. Plant protein extracts containing streptavidin were incubated with recombinant TMV virions. Affinity complexes of viral particles with the protein of interest were collected by centrifugation. Recombinant TMV-streptavidin complex was dissociated with 0.2M acetic acid, pH 4.6, and was passed through membrane filter Nanosep 300K by centrifugation. The filtrate contained pure streptavidin. Recombinant TMV was left on the filter. TMV particles collected from the filter could be used for at least two more purification cycles. The streptavidin-specific recombinant TMV system was applied successfully for purification of streptavidin from Streptomyces avidinii. The authors believe that the TMV-based affinity system can also be used for the purification of other proteins.

Affinity Labels↗

In planta engineering of viral RNA replicons: efficient assembly by recombination of DNA modules delivered by Agrobacterium.

We have developed an efficient, versatile, and user-friendly viral engineering and expression system that is based on in planta assembly of functional viral vectors from separate pro-vector modules. With this new system, instead of supplying a plant cell with a complete viral vector as a mature viral particle, an RNA or a linear DNA molecule, we use agrobacteria to deliver various modules that are assembled inside the cell with the help of a site-specific recombinase. The resulting DNA is transcribed, and undesired elements such as recombination sites are spliced out, generating a fully functional RNA replicon. The proposed protocol allows us, by simply treating a plant with a mixture of two or more agrobacteria carrying specific prefabricated modules, to rapidly and inexpensively assemble and test multiple vector/gene combinations, without the need to perform the various engineering steps normally required with alternative protocols. The process described here is very fast (expression requires 3-4 days); it provides very high protein yield (up to 80% of total soluble protein); more than before, it is carried out using in vivo manipulations; it is based on prefabricated genetic modules that can be developed/upgraded independently; and it is inherently scalable.

DNA, Bacterial↗

Engineering viral expression vectors for plants: the 'full virus' and the 'deconstructed virus' strategies.

Plant viral vectors are being successfully developed and exploited for the industrial-scale expression of heterologous proteins and as a research tool for studies of gene expression. The initial engineering strategy (the 'full virus' vector strategy) aimed to design a vector that was essentially a wildtype virus, which was modified to carry and express a heterologous sequence that encoded a gene of interest. The new emerging trend (the 'deconstructed virus' vector strategy) reflects an ideology that recognises the inherent limitations of the viral process. It attempts to 'deconstruct' the virus, by eliminating functions that are limiting or undesired, and to rebuild it, either by delegating the missing necessary functions to the host (which is genetically modified to provide those functions) or by replacing them with analogous functions that are not derived from a virus.

Gene Expression↗