Molecular Pharming

PBL’s Molecular Pharming tool was invented by George Lomonossoff and Frank Sainsbury at the John Innes Centre. It is a non-replicating transient expression system based on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of plant leaves for high-level production of proteins in a matter of days. The system deploys modified sequences from Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) to boost translational efficiency and hence, the system is named CPMV-hypertrans or CPMV-HT.

The main advantages of HT-CPMV compared to other protein over-expression systems are:

• Extreme high level expression of up to 30% total soluble protein
  • Quick and easy to use system
  • Easy cloning (series of binary vectors called pEAQ)
  • Fast expression through agroinfiltration
  • Total time required for expression and protein recovery is only 2 weeks
• Proven to be effective with a wide range of proteins (including multimeric and heteromeric proteins, as well as co-expression of multiple proteins)
• Non-infective viral-derived expression system

Schematic representation of Molecular Pharming using CPMV-HT

Easy Cloning. A schematic representation of the Transferred-DNA (T-DNA) of pEAQ-HT vectors is shown below. RB and LB represent the right and left borders of the T-DNA. The green arrow represents an eukaryotic promoter and the red box represents a terminator.

Please note that PBL has granted Leaf Expression Systems Ltd the exclusive rights to sub-license the Hypertrans® transient expression system. Apart from rights previously granted to PBL’s pre-existing licensees, this effectively transfers to Leaf full control of the Hypertrans® technology and associated patented intellectual property. Hypertrans® is the core technology underpinning Leaf’s biologics and vaccines contract development and manufacturing services business and this extension of Leaf’s rights will ensure that Leaf’s clients are able to use Hypertrans® for the manufacture of their products in multiple geographical locations to meet the needs of individual markets and to enable clients to take advantage of lower manufacturing costs in some of these markets.

CPMV-HT is based on two patented PBL technologies:

• PBL Tech ID: 07.439 - CPMV-HT
• PBL Tech ID: 99.194 - Suppressors of Gene Silencing

Further information can be found on the related technology pages.