Standard Review

The development of the pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea into a potentially valuable recombinant protein production system
 

Bruce A. Rosa^1,2, Lada Malek² and Wensheng Qin^1,2
 

¹Biorefining Research Initiative, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay ON, Canada, P7B 5E1.
²Department of Biology, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay ON, Canada, P7B 5E1.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: wqin@Lakeheadu.ca.

Accepted 5 October, 2009

   Abstract

The unique inducible system of protein secretion by the carnivorous pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea may be an ideal system for recombinant protein farming. S. purpurea is relatively uncommon and difficult to grow in vitro, so it has not been explored as a potential source of recombinant proteins. However, it naturally secretes large amounts of proteins into a liquid found in the leaf pitchers, so it may be an ideal way to collect recombinant proteins in leaf pitchers. Here, the advantages of transgenic S. purpurea systems over traditional transgenic plant systems for the production of recombinant pharmaceutical proteins are explored, and the steps necessary to produce such a system are discussed.

Key words: Transgenic plants, recombinant protein farming, carnivorous plants, gene technology.