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Molecular Farming Means the Next Vaccine Could Be Edible and Grown in a Plant:
It’s the dog days of summer. You bite down on a plump, chilled orange. Citrus juice explodes in your mouth in a refreshing, tingling burst. Ahh.
And congratulations—you’ve just been vaccinated for the latest virus.
That’s one of the goals of molecular farming, a vision to have plants synthesize medications and vaccines. Using genetic engineering and synthetic biology, scientists can introduce brand new biochemical pathways into plant cells—or even whole plants—essentially turning them into single-use bioreactors.
The whole idea has a retro-futuristic science fiction vibe. First conceived of in 1986, molecular farming got its boost three decades later, when the FDA approved the first—and only—plant-derived therapeutic protein for humans to treat Gaucher disease, a genetic disorder that prevents people from breaking down fats.
But to Drs. Hugues Fausther-Bovendo and Gary Kobinger at Université Laval, Quebec and Galveston National Laboratory, Texas, respectively, we’re just getting started. In a new perspective article published last week in Science, the duo argues that plants have long been an overlooked resource for biomanufacturing.
[...] “Molecular farming could have a considerable impact on both human and animal health,” the authors said.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday August 24 2021, @09:04AM (5 children)
And in 3 weeks you may be a mess of blood clots just because a bee carrying the wrong pollen landed on the flower which resulted on the fruit you just eat.
I still don't get it. If you can make a vaccine which can be administered orally, why do you need citrus trees when you can use bacteria or yeasts to produce it in a form factor much smaller than an orange? You can control the environ for bacteria a lot better than an orchard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 24 2021, @12:08PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Tuesday August 24 2021, @05:12PM
Covered in the article. Plants have built-in defenses against unwanted material. Labs have to be hyper-vigilant.
The problem that jumps to mind is dosage control. Use the plants to make pill raw materials, fine. Bite into an orange and get vaccinated? Eat the whole thing and get an overdose? The very first thing done after animal trials in Phase I is identifying the safe dosage of something.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday August 24 2021, @08:18PM (2 children)
Because when you're tasting fresh, sweet, tangy orange juice while biting down and trying to make sure you don't get it all over your shirt, it's a lot easier for people to distract you and stick you in the arm with the vaccine.
Or was that not the idea? I kind of skimmed the summary :-)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday August 24 2021, @10:25PM (1 child)
If you can get an oral formulation for a vaccine from whatever sources, you can dissolve it in a natural orange juice bottle. Or in an icecream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 26 2021, @11:34AM
Or in Prune Juice.