Algae show potential to produce human therapeutic proteins

Researchers have modified algae to grow human therapeutic proteins that treat a range of diseases at levels suitable for commercial production.

Eurekalert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uoc–ssp030810.php

Reference

Research conducted by a collaborative team involving University of California, San Diego who headed the study, and scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, San Diego biofuel company Sapphire Energy and ProtElix, a protein engineering company in Hayward, CA.  The research was published online this week in Plant Biotechnology Journal.

TechNyou note

People often question why researchers genetically modify plants to produde human therapeutic proteins – once they actually become aware that this can occur. It is something they find scary, or cautiously unacceptable.  This media release adds context to the debate for this type of research.  See following quote from media release:

“Currently, human therapeutic proteins are primarily produced from either bacteria or mammalian cell culture.  Complex mammalian proteins and monoclonal antibodies are primarily produced by the culture of transgeneic mammalian cells, while simpler proteins are generally produced by E. coli.

“Due to high capital and media costs, and the inherent complexity of mammalian cell culture, proteins produced by mammalian cell culture are very expensive. Bacterial production is generally more economical in terms of media components, but bacteria are often inefficient at producing properly folded complex proteins, requiring a denaturation and renaturation step that adds significant costs to bacterial protein production.”

Wood-munching Gribble gives hope for new biofuel

The tiny marine, wood-eating gribble that destroys ships and piers worldwide has gut enzymes that could hold the key to converting wood and straw into liquid biofuels.

Eurekalert: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uoy-ssp030510.php

Reference

Research is by scientists at the BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre at the Universities of York and Portsmouth, UK and is published in  the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (PNAS)