Plant Bioproduction of ChIFN-gamma Immunostimulatory Cytokine for Poultry Diseases

Poultry is a large component of livestock animals representing a multi-billion dollar industry. Chickens are raised under high density conditions and exposure to infections by opportunistic pathogens spreads rapidly and can have devastating economic impact. Cytokines such as Chicken Interferon-gamma (ChIFN-γ) have shown to have adjuvant and growth promoting activity in poultry and livestock. Their potential is very promising to be used as immunoenhancers adjuvants and as an alternative to antibiotics. The goal of this proposal SBIR Phase I is to produce chicken interferon-gamma in our rapid plant production system to use as a potent immunostimulant against poultry diseases. Current commercially available ChIFN-γ are cost-prohibited ($1,300-2,000 / 100μg of protein). The primary drawback of these current systems (yeast, E.coli) is their inability to offer production at a large scale. Our plant system offer a number of benefits over conventional culture systems. These include: 1) a low starting cost, 2) the capacity to express an active form of complex proteins that require post-translational modifications, 3) scalable manufacturing capacity, and 4) high safety, no human or mammalian pathogens.We will produce recombinant chicken interferon-gamma protein in transgenic tobacco plants. We will harvest the leaves, isolate the ChIFN-γ protein, purify, characterize and test its bioactivity. Phase I will determine the ability of plants to produce bioactive chicken IFN-γ in vitro, and will provide the yield level capacity of the avian cytokine. We expect that if found feasible, the ChIFN-γ immunomodulator agent may represent a promising low-cost research reagent for pharmaceuticals, basic research and commercial applications. The research reagent market is a $40.3 billion dollar industry expected to extend to $81 billion by 2016 (BCC Research). Our reagents will serve as valuable tools for basic and applied research in the area of poultry immunology.