Engineering Chloroplasts for High-Level Constitutive or Inducible Transgene Expression

Harnessing the potential of chloroplast-derived expression elements for enhanced production of cellulases in Escherichia coli

Thermophilic cellulases can play a crucial part in the efficient breakdown of cellulose-a major component of lignocellulosic plant biomass, however, their commercial production needs simple and robust biomanufacturing biosystems. In this study, two cellulases (β-glucosidase and endoglucanase) were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli under a chloroplast-derived constitutive promoter and expression-enhancing terminator. The genes encoding the cellulases were sourced from a thermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima to exploit their industrially needed thermotolerance potential. The codon-optimized gene sequences were synthesized and placed under a tobacco chloroplast 16S rRNA promoter (Prrn), along with the 5' UTR (untranslated region) from gene 10 of phage T7 (T7g10). A six-residue long histidine tag (His6-tag) was attached to the N-terminus for protein detection. A high-level of expression of β-glucosidase and endoglucanase in E. coli was recorded from the chloroplast promoter and terminator. Furthermore, the activity assays confirmed that the recombinant enzymes maintained their activity at elevated temperatures. Thermostability analysis showed that recombinant enzymes retained their thermotolerance even after being expressed in a non-native host. Where, β-glucosidase and endoglucanase showed their optimum activities at 90 °C and 100 °C, respectively. Examination of the 3D structures of T. maritima cellulases revealed differential ionic interactions contributing to this high degree of thermotolerance. The study highlights the feasibility of producing thermostable versions of recombinant enzymes in E. coli at high levels. Our finding underscores the potential of this approach to meet industrial demands for efficient enzyme production employing E. coli as a robust biomanufacturing platform.

Chloroplast ATP synthase: From structure to engineering

F-type ATP synthases are extensively researched protein complexes because of their widespread and central role in energy metabolism. Progress in structural biology, proteomics, and molecular biology has also greatly advanced our understanding of the catalytic mechanism, post-translational modifications, and biogenesis of chloroplast ATP synthases. Given their critical role in light-driven ATP generation, tailoring the activity of chloroplast ATP synthases and modeling approaches can be applied to modulate photosynthesis. In the future, advances in genetic manipulation and protein design tools will significantly expand the scope for testing new strategies in engineering light-driven nanomotors.

Redesigning amino/carboxyl ends of DARPin G3 for high thermostability and production in tobacco transplastomic plants

KEY MESSAGE

Redesigning the N- and C-capping repeats of the native DARPin G3 significantly improved its stability, and may facilitate its purification from the total soluble proteins of high-temperature dried leaf materials of transplastomic plants. Designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) constitute a promising class of binding molecules that can overcome the limitations of monoclonal antibodies and enable the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Despite their inherent stability, detailed studies have revealed that the original capping repeats derived from natural ankyrin repeat proteins impair the stability of the initial DARPin design. Consequently, the development of thermodynamically stabilized antibody mimetics may facilitate the development of innovative drugs in the future. In this study, we replaced the original N- and C-capping repeats with improved caps to enhance the thermostability of native DARPin G3. Computational analyses suggested that the redesigned thermostable DARPin G3 structure possessed optimal quality and stability. Molecular dynamics simulations verified the stability of the redesigned thermostable DARPin G3 at high temperatures. The redesigned thermostable DARPin G3 was expressed at high levels in tobacco transplastomic plants and subsequently purified from high-temperature dried leaf materials. Thermal denaturation results revealed that the redesigned thermostable DARPin G3 had a higher Tm value than the native DARPin G3, with a Tm of 35.51 °C greater than that of native DARPin G3. The results of the in vitro bioassays confirmed that the purified thermostable DARPin G3 from high-temperature dried leaf materials maintained its binding activity without any loss of affinity and specifically bound to the HER2 receptor on the cell surface. These findings demonstrate the successful improvement in the thermostability of DARPin G3 without compromising its biological activity.

Efficient expression of fusion human epidermal growth factor in tobacco chloroplasts

BACKGROUND

Chloroplast transformation is a robust technology for the expression of recombinant proteins. Various types of pharmaceutical proteins including growth factors have been reported in chloroplasts via chloroplast transformation approach at high expression levels. However, high expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) in chloroplasts with the technology is still unavailable.

RESULTS

The present work explored the high-level expression of recombinant EGF, a protein widely applied in many clinical therapies, in tobacco chloroplasts. In this work, homoplastic transgenic plants expressing fusion protein GFP-EGF, which was composed of GFP and EGF via a linker, were generated. The expression of GFP-EGF was confirmed by the combination of green fluorescent observation and Western blotting. The achieved accumulation of the recombinant fusion GFP-EGF was 10.21 ± 0.27% of total soluble proteins (1.57 ± 0.05 g kg^- 1 of fresh leaf). The chloroplast-derived GFP-EGF was capable of increasing the cell viability of the NSLC cell line A549 and enhancing the phosphorylation level of the EGF receptor in the A549 cells.

CONCLUSION

The expression of recombinant EGF in tobacco chloroplasts via chloroplast transformation method was achieved at considerable accumulation level. The attempt gives a good example for the application of chloroplast transformation technology in recombinant pharmaceutical protein production.

Stable and efficient expression of human brain-derived neurotrophic factor in tobacco chloroplasts

BACKGROUND

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is an intensively studied neurotrophin that promotes various physiological processes, such as acceleration of cell proliferation and differentiation, and is, therefore widely used in clinical applications.

METHODS AND RESULTS

In this study, an expression vector with a codon-optimized hBDNF gene was constructed and transferred into chloroplasts of tobacco by gene-gun. After three or four rounds of selection with optimal spectinomycin concentration, hBDNF was integrated into the chloroplast genome of homoplastomic plants, as confirmed by PCR and Southern hybridization. ELISA indicated that hBDNF fused with GFP represented approximately 15.72% ± 0.33% of total soluble protein in the leaves of transplastomic plants. Moreover, the chloroplast-derived hBDNF displayed biological activity similar to the commercial product.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first case report of hBDNF expression by chloroplast transformation in the plant model, providing an additional pathway for the production of chloroplast-expressed therapeutic proteins.

Biotechnological Advances to Improve Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crops

The major challenges that agriculture is facing in the twenty-first century are increasing droughts, water scarcity, flooding, poorer soils, and extreme temperatures due to climate change. However, most crops are not tolerant to extreme climatic environments. The aim in the near future, in a world with hunger and an increasing population, is to breed and/or engineer crops to tolerate abiotic stress with a higher yield. Some crop varieties display a certain degree of tolerance, which has been exploited by plant breeders to develop varieties that thrive under stress conditions. Moreover, a long list of genes involved in abiotic stress tolerance have been identified and characterized by molecular techniques and overexpressed individually in plant transformation experiments. Nevertheless, stress tolerance phenotypes are polygenetic traits, which current genomic tools are dissecting to exploit their use by accelerating genetic introgression using molecular markers or site-directed mutagenesis such as CRISPR-Cas9. In this review, we describe plant mechanisms to sense and tolerate adverse climate conditions and examine and discuss classic and new molecular tools to select and improve abiotic stress tolerance in major crops.

Functional peptide-mediated plastid transformation in tobacco, rice, and kenaf

In plant engineering, plastid transformation is more advantageous than nuclear transformation because it results in high levels of protein expression from multiple genome copies per cell and is unaffected by gene silencing. The common plastid transformation methods are biolistic bombardment that requires special instruments and PEG-mediated transformation that is only applicable to protoplast cells. Here, we aimed to establish a new plastid transformation method in tobacco, rice, and kenaf using a biocompatible fusion peptide as a carrier to deliver DNA into plastids. We used a fusion peptide, KH-AtOEP34, comprising a polycationic DNA-binding peptide (KH) and a plastid-targeting peptide (AtOEP34) to successfully deliver and integrate construct DNA into plastid DNA (ptDNA) via homologous recombination. We obtained transformants in each species using selection with spectinomycin/streptomycin and the corresponding resistance gene aadA. The constructs remained in ptDNA for several months after introduction even under non-selective condition. The transformants normally flowered and are fertile in most cases. The offspring of the transformants (the T₁ generation) retained the integrated construct DNA in their ptDNA, as indicated by PCR and DNA blotting, and expressed GFP in plastids from the integrated construct DNA. In summary, we successfully used the fusion peptide method for integration of foreign DNA in tobacco, rice, and kenaf ptDNA, and the integrated DNA was transmitted to the next generations. Whereas optimization is necessary to obtain homoplasmic plastid transformants that enable stable heterologous expression of genes, the plastid transformation method shown here is a novel nanomaterial-based approach distinct from the conventional methods, and we propose that this easy method could be used to target a wide variety of plants.

A glossary of plant cell structures: Current insights and future questions

In this glossary of plant cell structures, we asked experts to summarize a present-day view of plant organelles and structures, including a discussion of outstanding questions. In the following short reviews, the authors discuss the complexities of the plant cell endomembrane system, exciting connections between organelles, novel insights into peroxisome structure and function, dynamics of mitochondria, and the mysteries that need to be unlocked from the plant cell wall. These discussions are focused through a lens of new microscopy techniques. Advanced imaging has uncovered unexpected shapes, dynamics, and intricate membrane formations. With a continued focus in the next decade, these imaging modalities coupled with functional studies are sure to begin to unravel mysteries of the plant cell.

Renin angiotensin aldosterone system in pulmonary fibrosis: Pathogenesis to therapeutic possibilities

Pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating lung disease with multifactorial etiology characterized by alveolar injury, fibroblast proliferation and excessive deposition of extracellular matrix proteins, which progressively results in respiratory failure and death. Accumulating evidence from experimental and clinical studies supports a central role of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) in the pathogenesis and progression of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Angiotensin II (Ang II), a key vasoactive peptide of the RAAS mediates pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic effects on the lungs, adversely affecting organ function. Recent years have witnessed seminal discoveries in the field of RAAS. Identification of new enzymes, peptides and receptors has led to the development of several novel concepts. Of particular interest is the establishment of a protective axis of the RAAS comprising of Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), Angiotensin-(1-7) [Ang-(1-7)], and the Mas receptor (the ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/Mas axis), and the discovery of a functional role for the Angiotensin type 2 (AT₂) receptor. Herein, we will review our current understanding of the role of RAAS in lung fibrogenesis, provide evidence on the anti-fibrotic actions of the newly recognized RAAS components (the ACE2/Ang-(1-7)/Mas axis and AT₂ receptor), discuss potential strategies and translational efforts to convert this new knowledge into effective therapeutics for PF.