展望即将到来的“分子农业”

Molecular Farming Has Come of Age

在过去 2 0余年里 ,植物生物技术领域中最值得重视的是多种转基因植物的建成 ,并已在一些国家大面积种植。转基因植物另一方面的进展是合成有医疗价值的多肽、蛋白质、包括抗体、抗体表位、复杂蛋白质等。这里主要介绍转基因植物生产的医疗用多肽、蛋白质 ,特别是作为口服疫苗在动物和临床试验的成功 ,预示这种新的用药途径将对第三世界人民的健康起到重大作用。由于转基因口服疫苗不需通过常规发酵反应器 ,仅仅依赖于农业 ,因此有人提出“分子农业”一词 ,以显示其优越性。

Important development in plant biotechnology has been ushered in the 1990s,the most astounding field is the establishment of various transgenic crops,including cotton,corn,rice,tomato etc.In addition,utilization of transgenic plants for the generation of antibodies,gene epitopes and complex proteins has drawn much attention recently.Among these results,the use of plant parts with inducted antigens such as cholera toxin B subunit,toxigenic \%E.coli\% LT-B subunit as oral vaccines is attractive as a new route of medication.Considering their effectiveness as vaccines in animal and clinical tests,and simple agricultural practice for large scale production it is anticipated that these antibodies are bound to offer impact to health care for people of the Third World.In this short review,the laboratory and successful clinical test,merits and demerits in comparison with the currently used bioreactors,methods of extraction,and cost estimation of transgenic plant products for medical purposes are briefly reviewed.