Molecular Farming

is all about producing specific molecules from plants, using genetic modification techniques. It's about directed evolution, using a plant to express a gene that may come from another organism. It's a new term to me, though I've been interested in the field for decades.

The idea of expressing genes that may have come from other organisms in plants is not new, but the capacity to overcome some of the "natural" barriers to such a move are recent discoveries.

I'm enjoying reading "Plastid production of protein antibiotics against pneumonia via a new strategy for high-level expression of antimicrobial proteins: . Since I'm not a molecular biologist, it takes me a while to understand this paper, lots of looking up unfamiliar techniques and terms. Fun to learn, as I do know a fair amount about some of the science underlying this work.

Here is the reference to the paper, it is available for free.
PNAS vol. 106 No. 16 6579-6584 by Ralph Bock, et al
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/03/27/0813146106.full.pdf

Researchers in Germany took a few genes from a phage that infects the bacteria causing bacterial Pneumonia, put them into e.coli for amplification, then using a toxin shuttle, they blasted them into chloroplasts and then reproduced the plants. In short, they have a new route to produce antibiotics.

The novel idea was to make the injected genes in such a way that the e.coli didn't completely express the genes. Without this "stop" in the gene replication, the phage gene that produces the chemical that kills the pneumonia will also kill the e.coli....but with the modification, the e.coli bacteria produces many clones of the gene that can then be passed on to the plant.

Injecting the amplified genetic material into plant plastids put them into a different environment and they then express the gene. This strategy takes advantage of the differences between bacteria and higher plants.

At the same time, before it becomes medicine, there is a lot of work to do. The understanding of how to take this path and the skills to carry out each step technically require the highest level of understanding and scientific laboratory support. Nevertheless, once the tough work is done in the lab, it is likely that the farm could produce tons of product. Continued agricultural practice is not without special technical issues such as how long a pure "high-expression" plant could last outside the lab. It is possible that this could completely change the economics of certain pharmaceutical substances.

While there is no way to know if this line of work is going to result in a medically useful product, it would be smart to invest in the basic scientific research that underlies these processes, and to develop the technology to extend the capability.

Awesome research, such a privilege to be alive and to encounter such work!