SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Receptor Binding Domain Glycoproteins Produced in Tobacco BY-2 and Medicago Cell Suspension Cultures

Abstract

"The rapid worldwide spread of SARS-CoV-2 has motivated the scientific community to develop efficient and specific diagnostics and therapies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A variety of approaches have been considered, including the production of COVID-related proteins, with the Spike and its RBD as the major targets for expression in various systems. RBD and Spike protein production have previously been achieved in eukaryotes, namely animal cell cultures and via transient expression in plants. Spike protein production in microbial systems has been unsuccessful until now. In this dissertation, an alternative eukaryotic system was used for the production of SARS-CoV-2 Spike and RBD. The effective production of these viral proteins was successfully achieved in two plant cell suspension cultures: Tobacco BY-2 and Medicago truncatula A17 cell lines.(...)"