Chapter 18 - Advancements in plant transgenomics approach for the biopharmaceutics and vaccines production

Abstract

Plant transgenomics deals with the branch of omics whereby foreign gene insertion inside a plant genome can allow for the corresponding protein translation. The phenomena are now being widely employed in pharmaceuticals, drugs, and vaccine development by utilizing a plant gene construct and expression system. The current chapter highlights how the molecular farming strategy is employed at present to construct transgenic plants with a potential to express proteins with biopharmaceutical properties for drugs, antibodies, and vaccine production. It is also discussed how biopharmaceuticals and drug development can be revolutionized via plant transgenomics in the future. Plant transgenomics in biopharmaceuticals is already emerging as an independent field. Antibodies, therapeutic proteins, and bioactive products derived from transgenic plants are being researched at an extensive level. Vaccines derived from plants, particularly edible vaccines hold a great potential in mass-scale immunization programs. However, despite the progress in the field of plant transgenomics for drug development, a lot of research is imminent for efficacy, safety, and commercialization. Public acceptability for such biopharmaceutical products has to be taken into account before this developing field can ground its roots in the commercial settings.