Patent ID: 8686225

Claim:
A method of producing a recombinant human blood protein in monocot plant seeds, comprising the steps of: (a) transforming a monocot plant cell with a chimeric gene comprising (i) a promoter from the gene of a maturation-specific monocot plant storage protein operably linked to a first DNA sequence encoding a monocot plant seed-specific signal sequence capable of targeting a polypeptide linked thereto to a monocot plant seed endosperm cell, wherein the promoter operably linked to the sequence encoding the signal sequence comprises SEQ ID NO: 7; and (ii) a second DNA sequence encoding the human blood protein, linked in translation frame with the first DNA sequence, wherein the first DNA sequence and the second DNA sequence together encode a fusion protein comprising an N-terminal signal sequence and the human blood protein; (b) growing a monocot plant from the transformed monocot plant cell for a time sufficient to produce seeds containing the human blood protein; and (c) harvesting the seeds from the plant, wherein the human blood protein constitutes at least about 3.0% of the total soluble protein in the harvested seeds.