Review
Plant Sciences
Subramanian Parthiban, Thandarvalli Vijeesh, Thashanamoorthi Gayathri, Balamurugan Shanmugaraj, Ashutosh Sharma, Ramalingam Sathishkumar
Summary: Recombinant biopharmaceuticals have various applications in vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics, with plant molecular pharming being a robust platform for their large-scale production. Despite advantages such as humanized expression and reduced risk of contamination, the plant system faces challenges like non-human post-translational modifications and protein instability. Artificial intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in overcoming these hindrances and increasing production yield and stability. By using AI-based approaches in plant-based glycan engineering, protein folding, stability, catalytic activity, and organelle targeting can be optimized. This review highlights the importance of integrating systems engineering approaches and AI-based machine learning and deep learning algorithms in protein engineering to augment protein production in plant systems.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Philippe Jutras, Riccardo Soldan, Isobel Dodds, Mariana Schuster, Gail M. Preston, Renier A. L. van der Hoorn
Summary: A bioluminescent strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 was generated to monitor luminescence during agroinfiltration, providing a versatile and non-destructive imaging tool for studying plant responses to Agrobacterium infiltration.
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Carrie Louise Alderley, Samuel Terrence Edwards Greenrod, Ville-Petri Friman
Summary: This study finds that biofumigation can suppress the growth of Ralstonia solanacearum plant bacterial pathogen, but under low transfer frequency exposure, the pathogen evolves tolerance to allyl-ITC plant allelochemical and develops cross-tolerance to ampicillin beta-lactam antibiotic. The tolerance evolution is linked to insertion sequence movement in multiple genes.
EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Emmanuel Margolin, Joel D. Allen, Matthew Verbeek, Michiel van Diepen, Phindile Ximba, Rosamund Chapman, Ann Meyers, Anna-Lise Williamson, Max Crispin, Edward Rybicki
Summary: Establishing large-scale biopharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa is crucial due to limited production infrastructure. Molecular farming, which uses plants to produce pharmaceuticals, offers a cost-effective alternative but faces challenges in complex protein production. Understanding plant-specific glycosylation differences is important for producing viral glycoproteins with human-like structures.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Plant Sciences
Srividhya Venkataraman, Imran Khan, Peyman Habibi, Maria Le, Rory Lippert, Kathleen Hefferon
Summary: Plants have been explored as a platform for producing pharmaceutical proteins for over 20 years. This review article focuses on the expression and downstream purification processes for plant-made vaccines. The advantages of using plants for vaccine production, such as cost-effectiveness, ease of scaling up, and the ability to produce complex therapeutic proteins, are discussed.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Plant Sciences
Omayra C. Bolanos-Martinez, Richard Strasser
Summary: Human polioviruses are highly infectious and mainly spread through fecal-oral route. Current vaccines, which are injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and live-attenuated oral polio vaccine (OPV), have limitations in terms of reduced protection or safety concerns. Plant-based poliovirus vaccines have shown promising results as a safe and low-cost alternative. However, improvements in antigen production are needed.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Immunology
Srividhya Venkataraman
Summary: This review discusses the molecular virology of major Coronaviruses and the potential role of plant-derived vaccines and drugs in combating viral infections.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mojgan Soleimanizadeh, Mokhtar Jalali Javaran, Abdolreza Bagheri, Mahdi Behdani
Summary: This study successfully targeted the accumulation of AntiVEGF recombinant protein to the plant apoplast, demonstrating higher accumulation compared to cytoplasm-targeted protein, possibly due to improper folding. The purified protein showed biological activity.
MOLECULAR BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Matthew J. McNulty, David Z. Silberstein, Brooks T. Kuhn, Hal S. Padgett, Somen Nandi, Karen A. McDonald, Carroll E. Cross
Summary: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency is an autosomal recessive disease with clinical manifestations including early onset emphysema and liver disease. The only FDA approved therapy for emphysema component involves infusions of purified A1AT at high cost and intermittent shortages. Research focuses on updating strategies for treating the pulmonary component of A1ATD and exploring the use of recombinant products from plants for therapeutic production.
FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(2021)
Review
Biology
Akila Wijerathna-Yapa, Jayeni Hiti-Bandaralage
Summary: Plants face both biotic and abiotic stresses, affecting their growth and development. The resulting yield reduction in economically important crops leads to significant global economic losses. Breeding for stress tolerance has been a common practice, and plant tissue culture has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective method for this purpose. It is particularly useful for screening major abiotic stresses, such as drought and salinity, and for developing disease-resistant plants. In addition, tissue culture allows for in vitro selection under controlled conditions, which is highly effective and affordable to maintain. This review highlights the importance of plant tissue culture in screening for stress tolerance and its applications in studying physiological and biochemical changes during stress, as well as in the development of stress-tolerant genotypes.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Matthew J. McNulty, Naomi Hamada, Jesse Delzio, Liber McKee, Somen Nandi, Marjorie L. Longo, Karen A. McDonald
Summary: Advancements in understanding and engineering of virus-based nanomaterials (VBNs) for biomedical applications have led to the exploration of interfaces between VBNs and other biomedically-relevant chemistries and materials. The immobilization of antibody-binding VBN in silica sol-gel has shown promising results for bioseparations and biosensing applications.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Matthew J. McNulty, Anton Schwartz, Jesse Delzio, Kalimuthu Karuppanan, Aaron Jacobson, Olivia Hart, Abhaya Dandekar, Anatoli Giritch, Somen Nandi, Yuri Gleba, Karen A. McDonald
Summary: The virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticle technology is a promising approach for biosensing and therapeutic antibody purification. It utilizes plant virions as chassis for diverse morphologies and high yield manufacturing. By consolidating the pro-vector system into a single vector, this study explores the potential of virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticles for therapeutic protein purification. The results demonstrate improved processing scheme and magnetic separation method for increased binding capacity and purity.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mingzhuo Li, Xianzhi He, Christophe La Hovary, Yue Zhu, Yilun Dong, Shibiao Liu, Hucheng Xing, Yajun Liu, Yucheng Jie, Dongming Ma, Seyit Yuzuak, De-Yu Xie
Summary: This study utilized transcription factors and cis-regulatory elements to design a De Novo regulation for altering plant secondary metabolism. Experimental and field trial results showed that this regulation method could effectively modify plant metabolites, indicating its potential application in plant engineering.
JOURNAL OF ADVANCED RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Yee Ting Elaine Chiu, Chung Hang Jonathan Choi
Summary: Transgenic plants are a promising factory for producing pharmaceutical molecules or proteins safe for human consumption. Nanoparticles are emerging as carriers for nucleic acids delivery to plant cells, with potential to improve efficiency, specificity, and scalability in the production of therapeutics. Further research is needed in the design of nanoparticles, targeting specific organelles, and transformation of plant suspension cells for enhanced bioreactor production.
ADVANCED NANOBIOMED RESEARCH
(2021)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Amber Dance
Summary: By pushing fluorescent proteins further into the red end of the spectrum, bioengineers are expanding the color options and depth of penetration for biological imaging.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Fabian Z. X. Lean, Alejandro Nunez, Ashley C. Banyard, Scott M. Reid, Ian H. Brown, Rowena D. E. Hansen
Summary: This study documents the pathology of poultry species and captive birds naturally infected with H5N8 and H5N1 HPAIV between October 2020 and April 2021. The results show that pancreatic necrosis and splenic necrosis were commonly observed in infected poultry, with other less common lesions including cardiac petechiae, serosal hemorrhages, and ascites.
Article
Infectious Diseases
Isabel Oliver, Jonathan Roberts, Colin S. Brown, Alexander Mp Byrne, Dominic Mellon, Rowena De Hansen, Ashley C. Banyard, Joe James, Matthew Donati, Robert Porter, Joanna Ellis, Jade Cogdale, Angie Lackenby, Meera Chand, Gavin Dabrera, Ian H. Brown, Maria Zambon
Summary: A case of high pathogenicity avian influenza A(H5N1) was confirmed in an individual in England who kept a large flock of ducks, with the individual remaining asymptomatic. Most of the sampled live birds were also confirmed to be infected with H5N1. Comprehensive contact tracing and active surveillance of exposed individuals did not reveal any additional cases or transmissions.
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Emma Taylor, Elsa Gladys Aguilar-Ancori, Ashley C. Banyard, Isis Abel, Clara Mantini-Briggs, Charles L. Briggs, Carolina Carrillo, Cesar M. Gavidia, Ricardo Castillo-Neyra, Alejandro D. Parola, Fredy E. Villena, Joaquin M. Prada, Brett W. Petersen, Nestor Falcon Perez, Cesar Cabezas Sanchez, Moises Sihuincha, Daniel G. Streicker, Ciro Maguina Vargas, Ana Maria Navarro Vela, Marco A. N. Vigilato, Hui Wen Fan, Rodney Willoughby, Daniel L. Horton, Sergio E. Recuenco
Summary: The Amazonian Tropical Bites Research Initiative (ATBRI) has been established to unify the control methods for neglected zoonotic diseases related to animal bites across Latin America, and provide evidence for policy-making.
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
(2023)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Craig S. Ross, David Sutton, Paul Skinner, Sahar Mahmood, Felicity Wynne, Brandon Londt, Chad M. Fuller, Jo Mayers, Alejandro Nunez, Daniel J. Hicks, Sharon M. Brookes, Ashley C. Banyard, Ian H. Brown
Summary: Newcastle disease (ND) is a significant disease of poultry caused by virulent forms of avian paramyxovirus-1 (APMV-1). Pigeon paramyxovirus 1 (PPMV-1) can also cause infections. A study investigated the pathogenesis and transmission of a specific APMV-1 strain in game birds and compared it to a contemporary PPMV-1 strain. The study suggested that game birds may play a role in the transmission and epidemiology of APMV-1 viruses.
Article
Virology
Rebecca Shipley, Edward Wright, Samuel P. Smith, David Selden, Anthony R. Fooks, Ashley C. Banyard
Summary: Rabies is a neglected tropical disease, with the rabies virus causing tens of thousands of human fatalities each year. It belongs to the genus Lyssavirus, but the burden of other lyssaviruses is unclear. The emergence of novel lyssaviruses emphasizes the need to assess vaccine efficacy against these viruses, as standard rabies vaccines may not be effective against all lyssaviruses.
Article
Allergy
Stephanie Dramburg, Christiane Hilger, Alexandra F. Santos, Leticia de las Vecillas, Rob C. Aalberse, Nathalie Acevedo, Lorenz Aglas, Friedrich Altmann, Karla L. Arruda, Riccardo Asero, Barbara Ballmer-Weber, Domingo Barber, Kirsten Beyer, Tilo Biedermann, Maria Beatrice Bilo, Simon Blank, Philipp P. Bosshard, Heimo Breiteneder, Helen A. Brough, Merima Bublin, Dianne Campbell, Luis Caraballo, Jean Christoph Caubet, Giorgio Celi, Martin D. Chapman, Maksymilian Chruszcz, Adnan Custovic, Rebecca Czolk, Janet Davies, Nikolaos Douladiris, Bernadette Eberlein, Motohiro Ebisawa, Anna Ehlers, Philippe Eigenmann, Gabriele Gadermaier, Mattia Giovannini, Francisca Gomez, Rebecca Grohman, Carole Guillet, Christine Hafner, Robert G. Hamilton, Michael Hauser, Thomas Hawranek, Hans Juergen Hoffmann, Thomas Holzhauser, Tomona Iizuka, Alain Jacquet, Thilo Jakob, Bente Janssen-Weets, Uta Jappe, Marek Jutel, Tanja Kalic, Sandip Kamath, Sabine Kespohl, Joerg Kleine-Tebbe, Edward Knol, Andre Knulst, Jon R. Konradsen, Peter Korosec, Annette Kuehn, Gideon Lack, Thuy-My Le, Andreas Lopata, Olga Luengo, Mika Maekelae, Alessandro Maria Marra, Clare Mills, Martine Morisset, Antonella Muraro, Anna Nowak-Wegrzyn, Roni Nugraha, Markus Ollert, Kati Palosuo, Elide Anna Pastorello, Sarita Ulhas Patil, Thomas Platts-Mills, Anna Pomes, Pascal Poncet, Ekaterina Potapova, Lars K. Poulsen, Christian Radauer, Suzana Radulovic, Monika Raulf, Pierre Rouge, Joaquin Sastre, Sakura Sato, Enrico Scala, Johannes M. Schmid, Peter Schmid-Grendelmeier, Denise Schrama, Helene Senechal, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Marcela Valverde-Monge, Marianne van Hage, Ronald van Ree, Kitty Verhoeckx, Stefan Vieths, Magnus Wickman, Josefina Zakzuk, Paolo M. Matricardi, Karin Hoffmann-Sommergruber
Summary: Since the discovery of IgE as a mediator of allergic diseases, our knowledge about its immunological mechanisms has greatly increased. Innovations in bioscience and technology have facilitated the production of well-defined molecules for component-resolved diagnosis, allowing personalized management of allergic diseases. The Molecular Allergology User's Guide 2.0 provides updated information on allergen molecules, their clinical relevance, and diagnostic algorithms, serving as a valuable resource for clinicians and scientists.
PEDIATRIC ALLERGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Laura A. Ridgley, Nicole Falci Finardi, Benjamin B. Gengenbach, Patrick Opdensteinen, Zack Croxford, Julian K. -C. Ma, Mark Bodman-Smith, Johannes F. Buyel, Audrey Y. -H. Teh
Summary: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have shown significant clinical success, but their response rates are limited and they are expensive. This study successfully expressed three key ICIs transiently in Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana tabacum plants. The ICIs were characterized in terms of protein levels, target cell binding, receptor binding, and recovery during purification. The study suggests that plants can be potential alternative platforms for producing affordable and accessible ICIs.
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Virology
Joe James, Caroline J. Warren, Dilhani De Silva, Thomas Lewis, Katherine Grace, Scott M. Reid, Marco Falchieri, Ian H. Brown, Ashley C. Banyard
Summary: Since October 2021, Europe has experienced a large-scale avian influenza (AIV) outbreak caused by the clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 high pathogenicity AIV. The virus has infected numerous poultry premises and led to the detection of H5N1-positive wild birds in Great Britain. It has been found that airborne particles carrying infectious HPAIV can be transmitted over short distances (<10 m) through the air, while macroscopic particles containing viral RNA may travel further (<= 80 m). However, the potential for airborne transmission between premises is considered low compared to other factors such as indirect contact with wild birds and biosecurity efficiency.
Article
Virology
Craig S. Ross, Paul Skinner, David Sutton, Jo Mayers, Alex Nunez, Sharon M. Brookes, Ashley C. Banyard, Ian H. Brown
Summary: Newcastle Disease (ND), caused by virulent forms of Avian orthoavulavirus serotype-1 (AOAV-1), is a globally significant avian disease. The study investigated the risk of AOAV-1-infected game birds to the UK poultry industry. It demonstrated that both chickens and pheasants are susceptible to infection, leading to high mortality and onward transmission, while partridges serve as intermediate hosts with reduced mortality and transmission.
Article
Virology
Marek J. Slomka, Scott M. Reid, Alexander M. P. Byrne, Vivien J. Coward, James Seekings, Jayne L. Cooper, Jacob Peers-Dent, Eric Agyeman-Dua, Dilhani de Silva, Rowena D. E. Hansen, Ashley C. Banyard, Ian H. Brown
Summary: During the early stages of the H5N1 avian influenza virus outbreak in commercial poultry in the UK, real-time reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RRT-PCR) was used to confirm infected premises and identify the viral subtype and pathotype. Statistical analysis supported a three-test approach using M-gene, H5-HP, and N1 RRT-PCRs for swab testing, which proved to be effective in subsequent assessments. The sensitivity of the M-gene and H5-HP RRT-PCR was high, while the N1 RRT-PCR remained effective at flock level. Successful surveillance testing and epidemiological information were also obtained using serological testing and quantitative comparisons of shedding.
Article
Microbiology
Robert W. Furness, Sheila C. Gear, Kees C. J. Camphuysen, Glen Tyler, Dilhani de Silva, Caroline J. Warren, Joe James, Scott M. Reid, Ashley C. Banyard
Summary: During the summers of 2021 and 2022, high pathogenicity avian influenza had a significant impact on seabird populations, causing unprecedented mortality. In one specific case at Foula, Shetland, 1500 adult great skuas died, leaving decomposing virus-laden material. The risk of further spread of infection was investigated through water sampling, and although no viral genetic material was detected after four months, limitations to the study need to be considered for future environmental monitoring.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Benjamin Kogelmann, Roman Palt, Daniel Maresch, Richard Strasser, Friedrich Altmann, Somanath Kallolimath, Lin Sun, Marc-Andre DAoust, Pierre-Olivier Lavoie, Pooja Saxena, Johannes S. S. Gach, Herta Steinkellner
PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Virology
Samuel P. Smith, Rebecca Shipley, Pascal Drake, Anthony R. Fooks, Julian Ma, Ashley C. Banyard
Summary: The rabies virus is responsible for over 59,000 human deaths per year and is difficult to treat in endemic areas. To overcome this, researchers developed a live-attenuated recombinant rabies virus expressing a highly neutralizing antibody linked to a fluorescent marker. This approach shows promise for the development of a therapeutic live-attenuated virus-based treatment for rabies infection.
Article
Virology
Amanda H. Seekings, Caroline J. Warren, Saumya S. Thomas, Fabian Z. X. Lean, David Selden, Benjamin C. Mollett, Pauline M. van Diemen, Ashley C. Banyard, Marek J. Slomka
Summary: Clade 2.3.4.4 H5Nx highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) of the goose/Guangdong lineage have caused a series of European epizootics since 2014. During autumn/winter 2020-2021, H5Nx subtypes, with H5N8 being the dominant subtype, were detected in the UK. The study shows that H5N8-2020 had higher infectivity while H5N1-2020 had faster transmission and greater virulence.
Article
Virology
Tamiru N. Alkie, Alexander M. P. Byrne, Megan E. B. Jones, Benjamin C. Mollett, Laura Bourque, Oliver Lung, Joe James, Carmencita Yason, Ashley C. Banyard, Daniel Sullivan, Anthony V. Signore, Andrew S. Lang, Meghan Baker, Beverly Dawe, Ian H. Brown, Yohannes Berhane
Summary: In December 2022 and January 2023, clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 avian influenza viruses were isolated from six American crows and a red fox in Canada. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these viruses belonged to two different clusters, indicating the continued transcontinental dissemination of the virus through migratory birds.