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The potential of oleosins to act as carriers for recombinant foreign proteins in plant cells has been established. Using the oleosin fusion technology, the protein can be targeted to oil bodies in oilseeds by fusing it to the N- or C-terminus of oleosin. In this study, aFGF was expressed in Arabidopsis thaliana seeds via oleosin fusion technology. A plant-preferred aFGF gene was synthesized by optimizing codon usage and was fused to the C-terminus of the A. thaliana 18.5 kDa oleosin gene. The fusion gene was driven by the phaseolin promoter to confer seed-specific expression of the human acidic fibroblast growth factor in A. thaliana . The T-DNA region of the recombinant plasmid pKO-aFGF was introduced into the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana by the floral dip method. The aFGF protein expression was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and western blotting. The biological activity showed that oil bodies fused to aFGF stimulated NIH/3T3 cell proliferation activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a member of the fibroblast growth factors family. It is a highly specific mitogenic factor for many cell types, as though it be involved in wound repair, angiogenesis, nerve nutrition and embryonic development etc. Oil bodies have been applied for medicine, foodstuff and industry field. The heterogonous proteins expressed in oil bodies have distinct advantages, such as less purification steps and low costs. In this study, bFGF was expressed in A. thaliana seeds using oleosin fusion technology. The pOTB-bFGF vector contained an oleosin-bFGF fusion gene and a glufosinate resistance gene for selection. Transgenic A. thaliana lines were obtained by the floral dip method and protein expression was identified by SDS-PAGE and western blotting in transgenic A. thaliana lines. Moreover, MTT assays showed that the oil bodies expressed oleosin-bFGF fusion protein had a remarkable proliferation effect on NIH/3T3 cells and animal experiments showed that it could effectively decrease wound size and accelerate granulation tissue maturation. In conclusion, this may be a better method of producing oleosin-bFGF fusion protein to meet the increasing demand in its pharmacological application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) is a member of the FGF superfamily. It exhibits diverse biological functions, and is extensively used for fundamental research and clinical applications involving hair growth, tissue repair, and burn wounds. Oil bodies, obtained from oil seeds, have been exploited for a variety of biotechnology applications. The use of oil bodies reduces purification steps and costs associated with the production of heterogonous proteins. Here, recombinant human FGF10 (rhFGF10) was expressed in safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius L.) seeds using oilbody-oleosin technology. A plant expression vector, pOTBar-oleosin-rhFGF10, was constructed and introduced into safflower using Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation, and mature safflower plants were obtained by grafting. Oleosin-rhFGF10 was successfully transformed and expressed in safflower seeds and inherited to the T 3 generation. Moreover, MTT assays demonstrated that oil bodies expressed oleosin-FGF10 had a dose-dependent effect on cellular proliferation. In conclusion, this may provide a method of producing oleosin-rhFGF10, and help us meet the increasing pharmacological demands for the protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of plants as expression systems for the production of recombinant proteins has distinct advantages, such as safety, ease, low cost and high yields. A plant binary expression vector, pOTBar-hPH20, containing an oleosin-hPH20 fusion gene and a Basta selection marker gene was constructed and introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana via the floral dip method. Transformed A. thalian a seed lines were obtained and analyzed by PCR. The PCR results indicated that oleosin-hPH20 fusion gene was integrated into the A. thalian a genome. The oleosin-hPH20 fusion protein was detected by SDS–PAGE and Western blot analysis. The oleosin-hPH20 fusion protein was expressed and had good antigenicity in the transgenic A. thaliana seeds. An enzyme assay suggested that the recombinant oleosin-hPH20 fusion protein had hyaluronidase activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidermal growth factor (EGF) can promote cell proliferation as well as migration, which is feasible in tissue wound healing. Oil bodies have been exploited as an important platform to produce exogenous proteins. The exogenous proteins were expressed in oil bodies from plant seeds. The process can reduce purification steps, thereby significantly reducing the purification cost. Mostly, the diameter of oil body particle ranges between 1.0 and 1.5 µm in the safflower seeds, however, it reduces to 700–1000 nm in the transgenic safflower seeds. The significant reduction of particle size in transgenic seeds is extremely beneficial to skin absorption. Results: The diameter of oil body in the transgenic safflower seeds was recorded in the range of 700–1000 nm. The smaller particle size improved their skin absorption. The expression level of oleosin-hEGF-hEGF in T3 transgenic seeds was highest at 69.32 mg/g of seeds. The oil body expressing oleosin-hEGF-hEGF had significant proliferative activity on NIH/3T3 cells and improved skin regeneration thereby accelerating wound healing in rats. The wound coverage rate exceeded 98% after treatment for 14 days with oil body expressing oleosin-hEGF-hEGF, while the saline without EGF group and wild type oil body group both showed less than 80%. The neonatal fibroblast and collagen were found to be increased in the safflower oil body expressing oleosin-hEGF-hEGF treatment group. TGF-β1, bFGF and VEGF were noted as important growth factors in the repair of cutaneous wounds. Their expression level increased after 4 and 7 day treatment, but decreased after 14 days. Therefore, it can promote skin regeneration to accelerate wounds healing. Conclusions: The expression of oleosin-hEGF-hEGF in T3 transgenic seeds was 80.43 ng/μL oil body. It had significant proliferative activity on NIH/3T3 cells and improved skin regeneration to accelerate wound healing in rats. The expression process of TGF-β1, bFGF and VEGF increased at first and then gradually declined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]