Modulation of Plant Function and Plant Pathogens by Antibody Expression

The expression of antibodies or antibody fragments in plants that bind to functional domains of plant or pathogen derived proteins, is a novel approach to elucidate and alter primary or secondary metabolism in plants and also to engineer pathogen resistance by inactivating targets inside the plant cell through immunomodulation. The feasibility of this approach either to interfere in plant metabolism or in plant pathogen infections has been shown for several antibodies that bind to key plant metabolites or to viral target proteins. Questions such as how cellular targeting alters the expression and accumulation of these proteins/molecules in plants remain to be answered before antibody technology can be used commercially. Alternatively, plants provide an excellent source for biomass production making it feasible to produce high amounts of valuable recombinant antibodies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This approach has yet to be evaluated in terms of expression levels, genetic stability in the field and downstream processing.