Gene Delivery into Plant Cells for Recombinant Protein Production

Figure 3

Geminiviral BeYDV vector for expression of recombinant proteins. The left (LB, pink triangle) and right border (RB, pink triangle) delineate the T-DNA construct that will be transferred into plant cells by Agrobacterium. Upon delivery into plant cells, expression of Rep gene produces the Rep protein (brown cloud) that nicks the LIRs (red stars) in the T-DNA to release a single-stranded DNA molecule (between the two yellow arrows). This DNA molecule recircularizes and is copied to make double-stranded DNAs that can replicate by the rolling circle mechanism to produce very high copy numbers of DNA templates (circles) and, in turn, abundant mRNAs of gene of interest (GOI) for the translation of the recombinant protein. Blue star: SIR; pink triangle: LB and RB of the T-DNA; red stars: LIRs; green arrow: gene of interest; brown cloud: Rep protein.