Mestrado em Engenharia Agronómica - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaGlycoproteins are a major part of biopharmaceutical products. For their production, a high level of homogeny is required, not only for the protein but also for attached glycans, since these oligossacharides influence protein function. For this goal, plants emerge as an ideal biopharmaceutical production platform. By infiltrating adult plant leaves with a suspension of Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing a plasmid for the gene of interest, a high amount of protein can be produced in a short period.
In this study, the production of two antibodies in genetically glycoengineered Nicotiana benthamiana was described. These antibodies, Rituximab and KBPA, served as models for Immunoglobulin groups G and M. Additionally, co-infiltration of the genes for these antibodies with glycoengineering constructs allowed for specific glycan structures attached to these proteins. Finally, the down-regulation of β-N-acetylhexosaminidase 3 with RNAi technology was described, inhibiting the effect of this glycosidase on plant produced proteins
