The plant vesicular transport engineering for production of useful recombinant proteins

The molecular breeding of plants that have been genetically engineered for improved disease resistance and stress tolerance has been undertaken with the goal of improving food production. More recently, it has been realized that transgenic plants can serve as bioreactors for the production of proteins or compounds with industrial or clinical uses. Several different recombinant enzymes and antibodies have been produced in this manner. To maximize the potential of industrial plants as a production system for proteins, efficient expression systems utilizing promoters that optimize transgene expression, 5′-untranslated region elements for efficient translation, and appropriate post-translational modifications and localization must be developed. This review summarizes successful examples of the production of recombinant enzymes, antibodies, and vaccines using signal peptides that direct vesicular localization in transgenic plants. We further discuss the modulation of recombinant protein localization to the endoplasmic reticulum, vacuolar system, or extracellular compartments by varying the signal peptide.