Stable Expression of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor in Chloroplasts of Tobacco

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 17; no. 1; p. 19
• Main Authors: Wang, Yun-Peng, Wei, Zheng-Yi, Zhong, Xiao-Fang, Lin, Chun-Jing, Cai, Yu-Hong, Ma, Jian, Zhang, Yu-Ying, Liu, Yan-Zhi, Xing, Shao-Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 23.12.2015; MDPI
• Subjects: basic fibroblast growth factor; Cell adhesion & migration; chloroplast; Chloroplasts - genetics; Chloroplasts - metabolism; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 - genetics; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 - metabolism; Fibroblasts; Gene expression; genetic transformation; Genome, Chloroplast; Genomic Instability; green fluorescent protein; Humans; Nicotiana - genetics; Nicotiana - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; Recombination, Genetic; Tobacco; tobacco; genetic transformation; chloroplast; green fluorescent protein; basic fibroblast growth factor
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms17010019

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a multifunctional factor in acceleration of cell proliferation, differentiation and transference, and therefore widely used in clinical applications. In this study, expression vector pWX-Nt03 harboring a codon-optimized bFGF gene was constructed and introduced into the tobacco chloroplasts by particle bombardment. After four rounds of selection, bFGF was proved to integrate into the chloroplast genome of regenerated plants and two of four transgenic plants were confirmed to be homoplastomic by PCR and Southern hybridization. ELISA assay indicated that bFGF represented approximately 0.1% of total soluble protein in the leaves of transplastomic tobacco plants. This is the first report of bFGF expression via chloroplast transformation in model plant, providing an additional option for the production of chloroplast-produced therapeutic proteins.