HETEROLOGOUS GENE EXPRESSION IN PLANTS

Abstract: The present invention relates to heterologous gene expression in plants. More specifically, the invention relates to high expression of heterologous proteins in seeds, by incorporating the gene between seed specific sequences. Preferably, said heterologous protein is a single-chain antibody variable fragment (scFv).

Description: HETEROLOGOUS GENE EXPRESSION IN PLANTS The present invention relates to heterologous gene expression in plants. More specifically, the invention relates to high expression of heterologous proteins in seeds, by incorporating the gene between seed specific sequences. Preferably, said heterologous protein is a single-chain antibody variable fragment (scFv). The ability to clone and produce a wide range of proteins from diverse sources became feasible with the advent of recombinant technology. The selection of expression hosts for commercial production of heterologous proteins is based on the economics of the production technique, such as the fermentation cost, on the cost of the purification and on the ability of the host to accomplish the post-translational modifications needed for full biological activity of the recombinant protein. Although in many cases, prokaryotic cells such as Escherichia coli or simple eukaryotic cells such as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are the host cells of choice, these systems are not sufficient in all cases and problems can be encountered both in yield and activity of the protein produced. Alternative systems such as plant cells, mammalian cells and insect cells may solve the problem of biological activity, but suffer from a high fermentation cost and a low yield. Transgenic plants can produce several types of heterologous polypeptides, comprising antibodies (ab's) and antibody fragments (Whitelam et al., 1993; Goddijn and Pen, 1995; Hemming, 1995). Antibodies and antibody fragments are interesting from an industrial point of view: they can be produced against nearly every type of organic molecule and are binding this antigen in a very specific way. However, the major drawback is the production cost. Plants and plant cells are an interesting alternative for the production of these molecules, and other polypeptides that are difficult to produce in other prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells. US5804694 describes the commercial production of β-glucuronidase in plants, by placing the β-glucuronidase gene after an ubiquitin promoter. With this construction, 0.1% of the total extracted protein is β-glucuronidase. By targeting the heterologous protein to the endoplasmic reticulum, the accumulation can be improved, especially for ab's and ab fragments. Using the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter resulted in expression level of single chain Fv (scFv) antibodies up to 4 - 6.8% of total soluble protein in leaves (Fiedler et al, 1997). A lot of the efforts for production of proteins in plants have been focused on seeds. Indeed, seeds, especially those of legumes and cereals, contain large quantities of protein; these are mainly storage proteins, which can form up to 7-15% of the dry weight for cereals, and up to 20-40% for legumes. Moreover, those storage proteins are limited in number, and some of them can be responsible for up to 20% of the total protein content in seed (Vitale & Bollini, 1995), which may have important advantages for the purification process. In that respect, the promoters coding for the storage proteins have been considered as ideal tools to obtain high expression levels of proteins in seed (Fiedler et al., 1997) US5504200 discloses the use of the phaseolin promoter for the expression of heterologous genes in plants and plant cells. WO9113993 describes the expression of animal genes, or the gene from brazil nut 2S storage protein, using a promoter selected from the group consisting of the phaseolin promoter, the α'-subunit of β- conglycinin promoter and the β-zein promoter. The gene is linked to a poly-A signal selected from the group consisting of phaseolin poly-A signal and animal poly-A signal. However, none of these systems leads to high heterologous protein expression. WO9729200 describes a seed specific expression level of 1.9% of heterologous protein on total soluble protein, using the specific legumin B4 promoter. Further improvement of the expression cassettes lead to an expression of 3-4% of scFv antibodies in ripe tobacco seeds (Fiedler et a/., 1997) Recently, the arcelin 51 gene (arcδl) of Phaseolus vulga s was isolated and cloned. This gene is responsible for the production of the seed storage protein Arcelin 5a (ARC5a) that accumulates in wild type plants up to 24-32% of the total protein content of the seed (Goossens et al, 1994; Goossens et al, 1995). Expression of the gene in Arabidopsis thaliana and Phaseolus acutifolius indicated that the seed storage protein ARC5a could be expressed up to 15%, respectively 25% of the total soluble protein (Goossens et al, 1999), when the own promoter and expression signals were used. However, no evidence was shown that the promoter could give efficient expression with other proteins. Surprisingly, we found that the use of the arcelin 51 promoter or the phaseolin promoter, in combination with the arcelin 51 leader sequence or the Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) omega leader and the arcelin 51 3' sequence could result in an expression level of heterologous protein as high as 12% of the total seed protein, which is far higher than known in the prior art. It is a first aspect of the invention to provide a seed preferred expression cassette having gene regulatory elements comprising a) the arcelin promoter comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID 1 or a phaseolin promoter comprising SEQ ID N° 5. b) the arcelin 51 leader shown in SEQ ID 2 or a TMV omega leader c) the arcelin 51 3'end comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID 3. Preferably, said seed preferred expression cassette comprises said arcelin promoter, said arcelin 51 leader and said arcelin 51 3' end. Said seed preferred expression cassette may also comprise the sequence shown in SEQ ID N° 4, encoding the 2S2 storage albumin signal peptide of Arabidopsis thaliana (Krebbers et al, 1988). In order to obtain seed specific expression of a gene of interest, said gene is placed between said leader sequence and said arcelin 3'end sequence. Preferably, said gene of interest is fused to the sequence encoding the 2S2 storage albumin signal peptide. In one preferred embodiment, the gene of interest is a gene encoding a scFv antibody. It is another aspect of the invention to provide a seed preferred expression cassette, which is not prone to silencing. When using the expression cassette according to the invention to express a gene of interest, more than 40% of the transformed lines are not silenced and do show a high expression, preferably more than 50% of the lines are not silenced, even more preferably more than 75% are not silenced. It is another aspect of the invention to provide a method to obtain seed preferred expression of a heterologous protein at a level of at least 10%, preferably a level of at least 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35% or 40 % of the total soluble seed protein, with the proviso that said heterologous protein is not an unmodified seed storage protein such as Arcelin 5a. Preferably, said heterologous protein is not an unmodified Arcelin, Phaseolin or Zein. In a preferred embodiment, a seed preferred expression cassette according to the invention is used. Another preferred embodiment is a method according to the invention, whereby said heterologous protein is a scFv. Still another aspect of the invention is a plant cell, transformed with an expression cassette according to the invention, or a transgenic plant comprising an expression cassette according to the invention. Indeed, the expression cassette can be incorporated and transformed to a plant cell or plant, using methods known to the person skilled in the art. Said methods include, but are not limited to Agrobacterium T- DNA mediated transformation, particle bombardment, electroporation and direct DNA uptake. Definitions The following definitions are set forth to illustrate and define the meaning and scope of various terms used to describe the invention herein. Seed preferred expression means that the expression preferably takes place in the seed, but does not exclude expression in other organs of the plant. Gene of interest as used here means the coding sequence of a gene of which one wants to obtain seed preferred expression. Leader as used here means the 5' end untranslated sequence. Signal peptide indicates the initial function of the peptide in the 2S2 albumin storage protein but does not necessarily imply that the peptide has the same function and is processed in the same way when it is fused to the gene of interest. Heterologous protein refers to any protein that can be expressed in seed but which is not an unmodified seed storage protein. In contrast, modified seed storage proteins (specific mutants, fusion proteins, improved seed storage proteins...) are part of the present invention and are thus included in said definition. Brief description of the figures Figure 1: Overview of the T-DNA vectors for the evaluation of scFv production in seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana. LB and RB = left- en right border of the T-DNA pVS1 = plasmid insertion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa for vector stability and replication in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. pBR = ori of replication in Escherichia col Nptll = selection marker neomycine phosphotransf erase II under control of the nos- promoter and the ocs 3'-termination and poly-adenylation-signals. Sm/SpR = bacterial resistance gene for spectinomycin and streptomycin Figure 2: Construction of pBluescript (2S2-G4) Figure 3: Construction of patagδ (3'-arc5l) Figure 4: Construction of pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 08 ) Figure 5: Amplification of DNA fragments for vector construction Figure 6: Construction of pParc5l-G4. This vector has been, in accordance with the Budapest Treaty, deposited with the Belgian Coordinated Collections of Microorganisms-BCCM™ Laboratorium voor Moleculaire Biologie-Plasmidencollectie (LMBP), Universiteit Gent, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium by Dr. Ann Depicker, Molenstraat 61 , 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium (work: K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium) and has accession number: LMBP 4128. Figure 7: Construction of pParc5l-Ω-G4 Figure 8: Construction of pP35S-G4 Figure 9: Construction of pPβ-phas-G4 Figure 10: Results of scFv-G4 quantification in seed extracts by quantitative Western blot. 500 ng protein of A-, P-, and Ω-seed extracts and 2,5 μg protein of 35S- and Col O-extracts were loaded on a 10 % SDS-PAGE gel. G4 proteins were detected by monoclonal anti-c-myc antibody and anti-mouse antibody coupled to alkaline phosphatase. ColO = negative control. Figure 11: scFv-G4 quantification in seed extracts from floral dip transformants by quantitative Western blot. Results are shown from 10 segregating T2 seed stocks transformed with pParc5l-G4 (upper blot), and 4 segregating T2 seed stocks transformed with pPβ-phas-G4 (lower blot). We loaded 1 microgram seed protein for A1 , A7, F28, F31 , F38, and F39, 1.5 microgram for A3, A5, A8, A15, A22, and A42; and 2 microgram for A14 and A16 on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel. G4 proteins were detected by monoclonal anti-c-myc antibody and anti-mouse antibody coupled to alkaline phosphatase. M = molecular weight marker. Figure 12: Coomassie blue stained SDS/page gel showing separated Arabidopsis seed proteins from transgenics F28 (lanes 3 and 7), F31 (lanes 4 and 8), F38 (lanes 5 and 9), F39 (lanes 6 and 10), transformed with pPβ-phas-G4 and from an untransformed control plant (lane 2). Lanes 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain 30 microgram protein and lanes 7, 8, 9, and 10 contain 20 microgram protein. The arrow indicates the recombinant scFv protein band. Lane 1 contains the molecular weight marker. On basis of the coomassie stained protein bands in separate lanes, Image master VDS software measured following G4 contents for each line: 9.9% for F28 (11.3% by Western blot), 15.4% for F31 (20.0% by Western blot), 16.0% for F38 (19.0% by Western blot), and 9.6% for F39 (12.0 % by Western blot). Figuur 13: Schematic representation of the ELISA-test used to analyse the antigen binding activity of ex p/anfø-extracted and E. co//-extracted scFv-proteins. (1) Coating of microtiter well with monoclonal antibody 9E10 binding to the cmyc-tag of the scFv; (2) co-incubation of several amounts of scFv from seed or E. coli with an excess of the antigen dihydroflavonole-4-reductase (DFR) from Petunia hybrida; detection of bound DFR with (3) polyclonal antiserum against DFR from rabbit and (4) polyclonal anti- rabbit serum coupled to alkaline phosphatase (AP). Figuur 14: Results of the analysis of antigen-binding activity of seed- and E.coli- extracted scFv proteins by ELISA. The ELISA test (figure 12) was performed with different G4-concentrations (X-axis) in presence or absence (controls) of DFR-antigen. Y-axis represents the ELISA-signal (ΔFU/min). Figuur 15: Construction of patagδ (3'-arc5l). Figure 16: Construction of pParc5l-G4bis. Figure 17: scFv-G4 quantification in different seeds (3/2, 3/3, 3/4, and 3/5) from a single transgenic Phaseolus acutifolius plant. From each seed extract, we loaded 3 (lanes a) or 4 (lanes b) microgram seed protein on a 10% SDS-PAGE gel. G4 proteins were detected by monoclonal anti-c-myc antibody and anti-mouse antibody coupled to alkaline phosphatase. M = molecular weight marker. Examples Example 1: Cloning of the T-DNA vectors for the evaluation of scFv production in Arabidopsis thaliana under control of the arc5l expression signals of Phaseolus vulgaris^ Four T-DNA vectors were constructed to evaluate and compare scFv production under control of the arcδl expression signals (vectors pParc5l-G4 and pParc5l-Ω-G4), the 35S promoter of the cauliflower mosaic virus (vector pP35S-G4), and the promoter of the β-phaseolin gene of Phaseolus vulgaris (vector pPβ-phas-G4) (figure 1). A first step in the cloning procedure consisted of the construction of three pilot vectors: pBluescript (2S2-G4) (figure 2), patagδ (3'-arc5l) (figure 3) en pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 05 ) (figure 4). Construction of pBluescript (2S2-G4) (figure 2): The coding sequence of the scFv fragment G4, fused at its 3'-end to the coding sequence of the c-myc tag (Evan et al, 198δ) and the ER-retention signal KDEL (Denecke et al, 1992), was cut from the T-DNA vector pG4ER (De Jaeger et al., 1999) by the restriction sites Λ/col and Xba\. Besides, an oligonucleotide was made that encodes the signal sequence of the seed storage protein 2S2 from Arabidopsis thaliana (Krebbers et al, 1988). This oligonucleotide was flanked at its 3'-end by the 'sticky' end of the restriction site Λ/col and was flanked at its δ'-end by a 'sticky' end that complements the restriction site Xba\ but destroys it after ligation, followed by the restriction sites EcoRI, BglW en HindW . The G4 fragment and the oligonucleotide were δ cloned together in the vector pBluescriptKS (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA), after cutting with HindWl en Xba\. The sequence of the insert was checked and a clone containing a correct insert was selected for further cloning steps. As such, we obtained the pilot vector pBluescript (2S2-G4), which contained the G4-encoding sequence, preceded by a series of unique restriction sites that could be used for the insertion of the different 0 promoters in combination with a mRNA-leader sequence. Construction of patagδ (3'-arcδl) (figure 3): An oligonucleotide was made to insert a few unique restriction sites in the T-DNA- vector patag4 (Goossens et al, 1999). The oligonucleotide contained the following restriction sites from its δ'-end to its 3'-end: the δ'-'sticky' end of EcoRI, the restriction δ sites Xba\, Xho\, and BglW and a 3'-'sticky' end that complements Xba\ but destroys it after ligation. The oligonucleotide was ligated in patag4, after cutting with EcoRI en Xoal. This resulted in the vector patagδ. The sequence of the inserted oligonucleotide was checked and a clone with correct insert was selected for further cloning steps. From the vector pBluescript {arcδl) (Goossens et al, 199δ), which contains the 0 genomic sequence of the arcδl-gene, we cut the 3'-expression signals of arcδl (3'- arcδl) by using Xba\ en EcoRI. The 3'-arcδl-fragment was ligated in patagδ, after cutting with Xoal en EcoRI. This resulted in the T-DNA-vector patagδ (3'-arcδl). Construction of pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 05 ) (figure 4): The arcδl promoter and the coding sequence of the ARCδa-protein (ARCδa 05 ) were δ cut from pBluescript (arcδl). This fragment was ligated in the cloning vector pSP72 (Promega, Madison, WI) after cutting with EcoRI en Xoal. This resulted in the vector pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 03 ), containing the arc5/-promoter preceded by the restriction sites EcoRI and BglW. Besides these three pilot-vectors, four DNA fragments were amplified by PCR. These 0 fragments were called PCR1 , PCR2, PCR3 en PCR4 (figure δ). Fragments PCR1 en PCR2 were amplified from the 3'-end of the arc5/-promoter (Parcδl) in pBluescript (arcδl). PCR1 contained the 3'-end of Parcδl followed by the arc5/-'leader' and the δ'- end of the 2S2 signal sequence. PCR2 contained the same 3'-end of Parcδl, but followed by the Ω-'leader' and the δ'-end of the 2S2 signal sequence. Both fragments were flanked by the restriction sites Sacl en HindW\. PCR3 was obtained by amplifying the 3δS promoter of the cauliflower mosaic virus from the vector pGEJAEI (De Jaeger et al, 1999). At the 3'-end of the 3δS promoter, we built in the arc5/-'leader', followed by the δ'-end of the 2S2 signal sequence. PCR3 was flanked by the restriction sites δ BglW and HindW\. PCR4 contained the promoter of t eβ-phaseolin gene of Phaseolus vulgaris, amplified from the vector pBluescript (Pβ-phas) (van der Geest et al, 1994). At the 3'-end of PCR4, we built in the arc5/-'leader' followed by the 5'-end of the 2S2- signal sequence. This fragment was flanked by the restriction sites Xho\ and HindW\. The pilot vectors and the four PCR fragments were used to clone the four T-DNA 0 vectors from figure 1. Construction of pParc5l-G4 (figure 6): First, the δ'-end of the arcδl promoter was cut from the vector pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 08 ) by using BglW and Sacl enzymes. This promoter fragment, together with the PCR1 fragment, was ligated in de vector pBluescript (2S2-G4), after restriction digest with δ BglW en HindWl. This resulted in the vector pBluescript (Parcδl-arc5l'leader'-2S2-G4). The sequence of the inserted PCR1 fragment was checked and a clone with correct insert was selected for further cloning steps. Finally, the arc5/-promoter with the arcδl- 'leader' and the G4-coding sequence was cut from the former construct by the restriction sites BglW en Xoal and ligated in the vector patag5(3'-arcδl), after digestion 0 with BglW en Xoal. This resulted in the T-DNA vector pParcδl-G4. This plasmid, transformed in E. coli MC1061 is deposited at BCCM under deposit number LMBP 4128. The plasmid contains the full arc5/-promoter and the full 3'end of arcδl, as used in the expression cassettes comprising the arc5/-promoter and the 3'end of arcδl. Construction of pParcδl-Ω-G4 (figure 7): δ First, the δ'-end of the arcδl promoter was cut from the vector pSP72 (Parcδl/ARCδa 03 ) by restriction digest with BglW and Sacl. This promoter fragment, together with the PCR2 fragment, was ligated in de vector pBluescript (2S2-G4), after restriction digest with BglW en HindWl. This resulted in the vector pBluescript (Parcδl-Ω'leader'-2S2-G4). The sequence of the inserted PCR2 fragment was checked and a clone with correct 0 insert was selected for further cloning steps. Finally, the arc5/-promoter with the Ω- 'leader' and the G4-coding sequence was cut from the former construct by the restriction sites BglW en Xoal and ligated in the vector patagδ (3'-arcδl), after digestion with BglW en Xoal. This resulted in the T-DNA vector pParcδl-Ω-G4. Construction of pP3δS-G4 (figure 8): The PCR3 fragment was ligated in the vector pBluescript (2S2-G4), after restriction digest with BglW and HindWl. This resulted in the vector pBluescript (P3δS- arcδl'leader'-2S2-G4). The sequence of the inserted PCR3 fragment was checked and δ a clone with correct insert was selected for further cloning steps. Finally, the 3δS- promoter with the arcδl-'leader' and the G4-coding sequence was cut from the former construct by the restriction sites Bglll en Xoal and ligated in the vector patagδ (3'-arcδl), after digestion with Bglll en Xbal. This resulted in the T-DNA vector pP3δS- G4. 0 Construction of pPβ-phas-G4 (figure 9): The PCR4 fragment was ligated in the vector pBluescript (2S2-G4), after restriction digest with Xhol en HindWl This resulted in the vector pBluescript (Pβphas- arcδl'leader'-2S2-G4). After checking the DNA-sequence of the inserted PCR4- fragment, we found in the β-phaseolin promoter a few basepairs that differed from the δ original sequence (Bustos et al, 1991;Genbank accession number J01263). However, the 3'-end of the cloned promoter sequence, starting from the Λ/cfel-site, was completely the same as the given sequence. Therefore, this piece, together with the coding sequence of scFv G4, was cut from the vector pBluescript (Pβphas- arcδl'leader'-2S2-G4) by using the restriction sites Ndel en Xoal. Besides, the δ'-end 0 of the /?-p/7aseo/A7e-promoter was cut from pBluescript (Pβ-phas) by the restriction sites Xhol en Ndel. Both DNA-fragments were ligated in patagδ (3'-arcδl), after restriction digest with XΛol en Xoal. This resulted in the final vector pPβ-phas-G4. Again we checked the sequence of the /?-p 7aseo// ?e-promoter and the same differences were found with the original sequence. The sequence between the Xhol δ site and the Ndel site, as used in the construct is depicted in SEQ ID N° δ. The four T-DNA vectors were purified from Escherichia coli and electroporated in Agrobacterium tumefaciens Cδδd Rif (pMP90). After colony purification, plasmids were purified from Agrobacterium and checked. The Agrooacter/t m-strains were used in Arabidopsis transformation. 0 Example 2: Transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana and regeneration of transgenic plants Arabidopsis thaliana (Columbia genotype O) was transformed by root-transformation (Valvekens et al., 1988) with the constructs pParcδl-G4, pParcδl-Ω-G4, pP3δS-G4 en δ pPβ-phas-G4. After selection of transformed calli on kanamycin-selective medium, 160 calli were transferred to shoot inducing medium. Finally, shoots were transferred to root inducing medium. After root formation plants were transfered to the greenhouse and seeds were collected from the following numbers of transgenic Arabidopsis plants: 36 for pParcδI-G4, 4 for pP3δS-G4, 18 for pPβ-phas-G4, and 13 for pParcδl-Ω-G4. 0 In parallel, the same constructs were used for Arabidopsis transformation by 'floral dip' (Clough & Bent, 1998). Transformed T1 -plants were selected on kanamycin-containing selective medium, transferred to the greenhouse, and seeds were collected. Example 3: scFv accumulation in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds δ Seed extraction and protein quantification Crude seed protein extracts were obtained following a modification of the extraction protocol of van der Klei et al. (1995) (Goossens et al, 1999). Ground seeds were extracted twice with hexane to remove lipids. The residue was lyophilized and subsequently extracted twice with 50 mM Tris/HCI, 200 mM NaCI, 5 mM EDTA, 0,1% 0 Tween 20, pH 8 (Fiedler et al, 1997) for 16 min at room temperature under continuous shaking. To prevent protein degradation, a protease inhibitor mix (2x Cømplete™, Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Germany) was added to the extraction buffer. The pellet was removed by centrifugation at 20000xo/ and supernatants were pooled. Total protein quantity in the crude extracts was determined by the Lowry method using the δ DC Protein Assay (BioRad, Hercules, USA) with BSA as a standard (Table 1). The reliability of Arabidopsis seed protein quantification by this method was proven by Goossens et al, 1999. 0 Table 1 : Total protein concentration in transgenic seed extracts (500 microliter) from 10 mg transgenic Arabidopsis seeds A 1 A 105 A 140 A 143 A 165A 3,666 μg/μl 3,396 μg/μl 3,042 μg/μl 3,708 μg/μl 3,675 μg/μl P 3A P 5 P 15 P 22A P 102B 2,862 μg/μl 4,028 μg/μl 3,623 μg/μl 3,151 μg/μl 3,339 μg/μl Ω 7A Ω 33 Ω 65C Ω 98A Ω 130 3,873 μg/μl 3,627 μg/μl 3,184 μg/μl 3,754 μg/μl 3,517 μg/μl 35S 93 35S 101 35S 116 35S 131A Col O 3,946 μg/μl 3,837 μg/μl 3,879 μg/μl 3,906 μg/μl 3,215 μg/μl Col O = non-transformed Columbia genotype O used as a control A = pParc5l-G4 transformed Arabidopsis line P = pPβ-phas-G4 transformed Arabidopsis line 35S = pP36S-G4 transformed Arabidopsis line Ω = pParc5l-Ω-G4 transformed Arabidopsis line 3.2. Quantification of scFv-G4 accumulation Proteins were separated on SDS/PAGE and accumulation levels of scFv-G4 proteins were determined by quantitative Western blot analysis using the anti-c-myc monoclonal antibody 9E10 (Evan et al, 1995) followed by anti-mouse IgG coupled to alkaline phosphatase (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA), according to De Jaeger et al, 1999 (figure 10). Different amounts of scFv-G4 proteins purified from Escherichia coli (De Jaeger et al, 1999) were used as standards. The constructs pParcδl-G4, pParcδl-Ω- G4, and pPβ-phas-G4 give very high scFv-G4 accumulation levels in Arabidospsis seeds, in the range of 10% of total soluble seed protein. These are the highest levels ever reported for scFv proteins produced in plants. Moreover, lines with such high levels were easily found, as only δ lines were screened for each construct, which is an indication that the expression cassettes are not very sensitive to silencing. Example 4: Transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana by 'floral dip' and regeneration of transgenic plants Arabidopsis thaliana (Columbia genotype O) was transformed by 'floral dip' (Clough & Bent, 1998) with the constructs pParcδl-G4, pParc5l-Ω-G4, pP36S-G4, and pPβ-phas- G4. Transformed T1 -plants were selected on kanamycin-containing selective medium, transferred to the greenhouse, and T2-segregating seed stocks were collected. ScFv accumulation in transgenic T2-segregatϊng seed stocks Seed extraction and protein quantification Seed extraction and protein quantification was determined as described for Example 3. Quantification of scFv-G4 accumulation Proteins were separated on SDS/PAGE and accumulation levels of scFv-G4 proteins were determined by quantitative Western blot analysis using the anti-c-myc monoclonal antibody 9E10 (Evan et al., 1996) followed by anti-mouse IgG coupled to alkaline phosphatase (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA), according to De Jaeger et al, 1999 (figure 11). Different amounts of scFv-G4KDEL proteins purified from Escherichia coli were used as standards. Most seed stocks were at least two times analysed. The constructs pParc5l-G4 and pPβ-phas-G4 give very high scFv-G4 accumulation levels in Arabidopsis seeds, in the range of 5-10% and 10%-20% of total soluble seed protein, respectively (tabel 3). Use of the arc5/-untranslated leader in pParcδl-G4 or the TMV(omega)-leader in pParc5l-Ω-G4 give similar accumulation levels (tabel 3), showing that both leaders allow efficient translation start in seeds. Besides, inter- transgenic variation is low for all four constructs, which is an indication that the expression cassettes are not very sensitive to silencing. Seed extracts of four pPβ- phas-G4 plant lines with highest G4-accumulation were further analysed by SDS/PAGE and Coomassie-blue staining (figure 12). A clear scFv-protein band could be identified at the expected size, which was absent in the untransformed control line. By using the Imagemaster VDS software (Pharmacia, Uppsala, Sweden), the scFv- percentage of total soluble seed protein was measured in each lane. Similar scFv- accumulation levels were obtained for those lines as with the quantitative Western blot analysis. ScFv accumulation in transgenic T3-homozvgous seed stocks For each construct, 10 T2-seed stocks containing highest G4-levels were genetically screened by segregation analysis. 72 seeds from each seed stock were germinated on kanamycin-containing selective medium and by statistical analysis we identified plant lines containing a single T-DNA locus. For the constructs pParcδl-G4 and pPβ-phas- G4, 4 lines containing a single T-DNA locus were chosen to grow and select homozygous seed stocks. 10 T2-plants per line were grown, T3-seeds were collected and homozygous T3-seed stocks were selected by growing plants on kanamycin- containing selective medium. For one of the four lines containing construct pParcδl- G4, no homozygous seed stocks were found. G4-accumulation was measured by quantitative Western blot in T3-segregating and T3-homozygous seed stocks. Most pParcδl-G4 and all pPβ-phas-G4 homozygous seed stocks gave higher G4- levels than the corresponding T3-segregating stocks (tabel 4). For both constructs pParcδl-G4 and pPβ-phas-G4, homozygous seed stocks were obtained containing more than 10% G4 of total soluble seed protein. Homozygous seed stocks, transformed with pPβ-phas-G4, contained extraordinary high G4 levels, up to 36.5% of TSP in seeds. This is the highest heterologous protein level ever reported for plants. Analysis of scFv-quality in seed extracts Antigen-binding activity of seed extracted G4-proteins was measured and compared with E. co//-extracted G4 by ELISA. We used seed extract of the 'phas'-seed stock containing 36.5% G4 (tabel 4). Different amounts of scFv .were incubated with the antigen dihydroflavonole-4-reductase in excess and bound antigen was measured by sandwich-ELISA (figure 13). ELISA-signal curves were set up for both the bacterial and plant scFv and compared. The curves overlap each other (figure 14), indicating that the plant-produced scFv has similar antigen-binding activity as the bacterial scFv. Example 5: Transformation of Phaseolus acutifolius and scFv accumulation in transgenic segregating bean seeds Phaseolus acutifolius TB1 was transformed with pParc5l-G4bis (figure 16). pParcδl- G4bis contains the same T-DNA as pParcδl-G4, except that it contains an additional P35S-GUS-construct for segregation analysis of transgenic plants. For the construction of this T-DNA vector, we first made the pilot construct patag6(3'- arcδl) (figure 16) according to the cloning step procedure for patagδ(3'-arc5l) (figure3). An oligonucleotide was made to insert a few unique restriction sites in the T-DNA- vector patag3 (Goossens et al, 1999). The oligonucleotide contained the following restriction sites from its δ'-end to its 3'-end: the δ'-'sticky' end of EcoRI, the restriction sites Xoal, Xhol, and BglW and a 3'-'sticky' end that complements X al but destroys it after ligation. The oligonucleotide was ligated in patag3, after cutting with EcoRI en Xoal. This resulted in the vector patagδ. The sequence of the inserted oligonucleotide was checked and a clone with correct insert was selected for further cloning steps. From the vector pBluescript (arcδl) (Goossens et al, 1995), which contains the genomic sequence of the arc5/-gene, we cut the 3'-expression signals of arcδl (3'- arcδl) by using Xoal en EcoRI. The 3'-arcδl-fragment was ligated in patagδ, after cutting with Xoal en EcoRI. This resulted in the vector patag6 (3'-arcδl). This pilot construct was used to make pParcδl-G4bis (figure 16). The arc5/-'leader' and the G4- coding sequence was cut from the vector pBluescript (Parc5l-arcδrieader'-2S2-G4) (figure 6) by the restriction sites BglW en Xoal and ligated in the vector patagβ (3'- arcδl), after digestion with Bglll en Xoal. This resulted in the T-DNA vector pParcδl- G4bis. Three transgenic plants were obtained by using the protocol of Dillen et al. (1997). As the three plants were regenerated from the same callus, it was expected that they were clones from the same transformation event. Seeds were collected and protein extracts were made from separate seeds in the same buffer as the Arabidopsis seed extraction, and according to Goossens et al. (1999). Total soluble protein concentration was measured spectrophotometrically at 280nm and G4 accumulation was determined by quantitative Western blot. G4 was detected as a single protein band (figure 17) in, on average, 3 of 4 seeds for all three segregating seed stocks. Therefore, these transformants most probably contain a single T-DNA-locus. All analysed G4-accumulating seeds contained 2-2,5% G4 of total soluble protein or 2-2,6 milligram scFv per gram fresh weight seed. Sofar, only one paper reported scFv production in leguminous species. Perrin et al. (2000) obtained 9 microgram scFv per gram fresh weight in pea seeds with the legA promoter. The accumulation with the arcδl promoter construct is thus 4 to δ hundred times higher than the reported levels with the legA promoter. As we only obtained one transgenic plant line, most probably plant lines with even higher scFv levels can be obtained. Goossens et al. (1999) already obtained 4 times higher levels of ARCδl protein in homozygous seed stocks compared to segregating seed stocks and this under control of the same arcδl promoter. As such, after obtaining more transgenic lines and selection of homozygous lines, we expect to reach 10% scFv levels in Phaseolus acutifolius, by using this arcδl promoter construct. References Bustos, M.M., Begum, D., Kalkan, F.A., Battraw, M.J., and Hall, T.C. (1991). Positive and negative c/s-acting DNA domains are required for spatial and temporal regulation of gene expression by a seed storage promoter. EMBO 10 (6), 1469-1479. Clough, S.J., and Bent, A.F. (1998). Floral dip: a simplified method for Agrobacterium- mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J. 16 (6), 735-743. De Jaeger, G., Buys, E., Eeckhout, D., De Wilde, C, Jacobs, A., Kapila, J., Angenon, G., Van Montagu, M., Gerats, T., and Depicker, A. High level accumulation of single-chain variable fragments in the cytosol of transgenic Petunia hybrida (1999). Eur. J. Biochem. 259, 426-434. Denecke, J., De Rycke, R. and Botterman, J. (1992). Plant and mammalian sorting signals for protein retention in the endoplasmic reticulum contain a conserved epitope. EMBO J 11 : 2345-2365. Dillen, W., De Clercq, J., Goossens, A., Van Montagu, M. and Angenon, G. (1997). Agrobacterium-medlated transformation of Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray. Theor. Appl Genet. 94, 151-158. Evan, G.I., Lewis, G.K., Ramsay, G., and Bishop, J.M. (1985). Isolation of monoclonal antibodies specific for Human c-myc Proto-oncogene product. Mol And Cell. Biol. 12, 3610-3616. Fiedler, U., Phillips, J. Artsaenko, O. and Conrad, U. (1997). Optimization of scFv antibody production in transgenic plants. Immunotechnology 3, 205-216 Goddijn, O.J.M. and Pen, J. (1995). Plants as bioreactors. Trends Biotechnol 13, 379- 387. Goossens, A., Geremia, R., Bauw, G., Van Montagu, M. And Angenon, G. (1994). Isolation and characterization of arcelin-5 proteins and cDNAs. Eur. J. Biochem. 226, 787-796. Goossens, A., Ardiles Diaz, W., De Keyser, A., Van Montagu, M., and Angenon, G. (1996). Nucleotide sequence of an arcelin δ-l genomic clone from wild Phaseolus vulgaris (Z60202). Plant Physiol 109, 722, PGR96-076. Goossens, A., Dillen, W., De Clercq, J., Van Monatgu, M., and Angenon, G. (1999). The arcelin-δ gene of Phaseolus vulgaris directs high seed-specific expression in transgenic Phaseolus acutifolius and Arabidopsis plants. Plant Physiology, Vol. 120, p. 1095-1104. Hemming, D. (1995) Molecular farming: using transgenic ' plants to produce novel proteins and other chemicals. AgBiotech News Inform. 7, 19N-29N. Krebbers, E., Herdies, L, De Clercq, A., Seurinck, J., Leemans, J., Van Damme, J., Segura, M., Gheysen, G., Van Montagu, M. and Vandekerckhove, J. (1988). Determination of the processing sites of an Arabidopsis 2S albumin and characterization of the complete gene family. Plant Physiol 87: 859-866. Perrin, Y., Vaquero, C, Gerrard, I., Sack, M., Drossard, J., Stoger, E., Christou, P., and Fischer, R. (2000). Transgenic pea seeds as bioreactors for the production of a single-chain Fv fragment (scFV) antibody used in cancer diagnosis and therapy. Molecular breeding 6, 345-362. Valvekens , D., Van Montagu, M, and Van Lijsebettens, M. (1988). Agrobacterium tumefaciens-medlated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana root explants by using kanamycin selection. PNAS USA 85, 5536-6640. van der Geest, A.H.M., Hall, G.E., Spiker, S., and Hall, T.C. (1994). The β-phaseolin gene is flanked by matrix attachment regions. The Plant Journal 6(3), 413-423. Vitale, A. and Bollini, R. (1995) Legume storage proteins. In Seed development and germination (Kigel, J. and Galili, G. eds.) p73-102, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York. Whitelam, G.C., Cockburn, B., Gandecha, A.R. and Owen, M.R.L. (1993). Heterologous protein production in transgenic plants. Biotechnol. Genet. Eng. Rev. 11 , 1-29.

Claims: Claims 1. A seed preferred expression ' cassette having gene regulatory elements comprising: - the arcelin promoter comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID N° 1, - the arcelin δl leader shown in SEQ ID N° 2, and - the arcelin δl 3'end comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID N° 3. 2. A seed preferred expression cassette according to claim 1 wherein said arcelin promotor is replaced by a phaseolin promoter comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID N° δ. 3. A seed preferred expression cassette according to claim 1 wherein a TMV omega leader replaces said arcelin δl leader. 4. A seed preferred expression cassette according to any of claims 1-3 further comprising the sequence shown in SEQ ID N° 4 encoding the 2S2 storage albumin signal peptide. 6. A seed preferred expression cassette according to any of claims 1-4 whereby a gene of interest is placed between said leader sequence and said arcelin δl 3' sequence. 6. A seed preferred expression cassette according to claim 5, whereby said gene of interest is fused the sequence encoding the 2S2 storage albumin signal peptide. 7. A seed preferred expression cassette according to claim δ or 6, whereby the gene of interest encodes a single chain Fv fragment. 8. A method to obtain seed preferred expression of a heterologous protein at a level of at least 10% of the total soluble seed protein, with the proviso that said heterologous protein is not an unmodified seed storage protein. 9. A method according to claim 8 wherein said level is at least 15% of the total soluble seed protein. 10. A method according to any of claims 8-9, using an expression cassette according to any of claims 1-7. 11. A plant cell transformed with an expression cassette according to any of the claims 1-7. 12. A transgenic plant comprising an expression cassette according to any of the claims 1-7.

Inventors: ANGENON GEERT, DE JAEGER GEERT, DEPICKER ANNA, GOOSSENS ALAIN, ANGENON, GEERT, DE JAEGER, GEERT, DEPICKER, ANNA, GOOSSENS, ALAIN
Applicants: ANGENON GEERT, DEPICKER ANNA, GOOSSENS ALAIN, JAEGER GEERT DE, VLAAMS INTERUNIV INST BIOTECH, ANGENON, GEERT, DE JAEGER, GEERT, DEPICKER, ANNA, GOOSSENS, ALAIN, VLAAMS INTERUNIVERSITAIR INSTITUUT VOOR BIOTECHNOLOGIE VZW
Application year: 2001
Main classification: C12N15
IPC codes: A01H5, C07K14, C12N5, C12N15