Expression of the Human Milk Protein, Beta-Casein : in Transgenic Potato Plants

<p>Mother’s milk is recommended by the nutritional and pediatric communities as the best food for suckling infants. For non breast-fed infants, bovine milk-based formulas have been regarded as a suitable substitute. In the early 1900's, physicians found that foreign proteins in cow milk were responsible for gastrointestinal disease and even digestive collapse of the newborn fed a cow milk-based diet¹⁶. The allergenicity of cow milk for the human infant appears to be caused predominantly by p-casein¹⁷. In this research, the cDNA encoding human p-casein was introduced into potato cells under the control of the bidirectional, auxin-inducible mannopine synthase gene (mas) promoter by <em>Agrobacterium turnefaciens</em>-mediated leaf disc transformation methods. The presence of the p-casein gene and its transcript in regenerated transgenic plants were confirmed by PCR and RT-PCR analysis respectively. Human p-casein protein was detected in leaves of transgenic plants by immunoblot analysis. The p-casein protein produced by the plants migrated as a single band with a molecular mass of about 30 KDa and was approximately 0.01% of the total soluble protein in transgenic potato tissue.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

Year

1996

Author dc:creator

• Roberts, Wendy

Contributors dc:contributor

• William H. R. Langrides
• Allan P. Escher
• Anthony J. Zuccarelli

• Microbiology
• Molecular Genetics
• Milk Proteins; Milk, Human; Caseins; Plants, Transgenic; Plant Proteins

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/762

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1861