What is molecular farming?

Slide 1: 

MOLECULAR FARMING Copyright of various photographs and figures used in this presentation lies with their original creator only. This is for educational use and not for commercial purpose

Slide 2: 

'Molecular farming' is the production of valuable recombinant proteins in transgenic organisms on an agricultural scale. Plants can produce various kinds of proteins that can then be made in large quantities. This means that mass production of high value-added useful proteins can be done at very low cost. Generally production costs can be reduced to just 1/30 the cost of using animal cell culture and 1/3 of the cost of using a microorganism culture system. Molecular Farming ? Molecular Farming refers to the new area of science which combines the use of biotechnology and plants in order to produce valuable products.

MARKET VALUE : 

MARKET VALUE The global market of medical proteins is valued at $36,000 billion . For example the market value for insulin is $1,300 billion and it is expected to increase in case of possible mass production. The annual domestic sales of various industrial enzymes used in food, detergents and textiles is estimated to be over $20 billion and different kinds of medical supplies and vaccines is valued at $100 billion .

NEXGEN : 

NEXGEN NEXGEN intends to use plants as bio-factories to produce common authentic therapeutic proteins and reduce their costs as a result of the mass-production capabilities of plants. Furthermore, the Company is also actively developing its own novel products for the cosmetics industry, and has plans to produce large quantities of different enzymes in a non-purified form that can be used in many different industries.

Why plants? : 

Why plants? Plants have the natural ability to make human and animal proteins. This means that mass production is greatly simplified by just increasing the acreage of the plants under cultivation. Existing farming equipment can be used in the processing of the plants and thus reduce the costs involved in making the product. Often costs can be reduced as much as 1/30 of that necessary when using animal cell culture and at least by 1/3 when compared to microbial culture systems. Products produced in plants can be stored for long periods without refrigeration if they are expressed in seeds or leaves which can be stored dried.

How is it done? : 

How is it done? Through careful and skilled manipulation of genes, molecular farming techniques allows for the controlled expression of a specific gene which, when expressed in a transgenic plant, results in the production of a specific target protein. The technologies are so precise that the target protein can be expressed in a single plant tissue or during a specific developmental phase of the plants growth cycle. Thus the production of any target protein can be carefully controlled to ensure the safe and secure production of valuable products.

What are the applications? : 

What are the applications? Molecular farming technologies offer the unique advantage that almost any protein can be produced economically and safely under very controlled conditions. Medical proteins, industrial enzymes, marine industry products as well as cosmetic and functional food items can be produced through molecular farming and thus ensure the safe and secure production of these products.

Slide 8: 

Molecular Farming 1 - Medical proteins Examples: Insulin, interferon, growth hormones, antibodies, blood proteins Therapeutic proteins can be very expensive to produce since they are commonly made using animal cell culture or they are purified from specific animal tissues or in some specific cases from blood in order to isolate a protein that functions correctly.

How is it done? : 

How is it done? Genetic enhancement is used to introduce and express genes coding for the high value proteins.

Slide 10: 

Molecular Farming 2 - Industrial enzymes The second approach to Molecular Farming is particularly attractive for protein production when a high degree of purification is not necessary. For example, in the case of an enzyme used in the animal feed industry, purification is not required. Plant material is simply dried and ground to a powder which is then added directly to the feed. This approach to molecular farming has tremendous potential for the production of high-value proteins for agricultural, marine and industrial industries when a high degree of purity is not required.

Slide 11: 

Molecular Farming 3 - Edible Vaccine Edible vaccines can be used instead of most available vaccines. Edible vaccines are particularity attractive in providing mucosal immunity. Mucosal immunity is the term for the production of antibodies in those regions of the body that are exposed to the environment such as the mouth, stomach and intestines. Edible vaccines can be developed for such diseases as hepatitis, cholera, diarrhea, various cancers and auto-immune diseases. In the near future, vaccinations will be as simple and painless as eating a piece of food!

Production of vaccines in transgenic plants : 

Production of vaccines in transgenic plants

Production of vaccines in transgenic plants : 

Production of vaccines in transgenic plants