Expression of Porcine Epidermal Growth Factor in Plants. S. Du, W-J Yu, C. DeLange¹, B. McBride¹, Y. Mine²., L. Erickson³*.  ¹Dept. of Animal Science, ²Dept. of Food Science, ³Dept. of Plant Agriculture, Biotechnology Division,University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd. Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1.

A gene for porcine epidermal growth factor was synthesized containing a 6 x histidine tail and a tobacco PR signal peptide. The construct was transferred to tobacco (Pet H4) using Agrobacterium and a pBIN19 derivative containing an enhanced 35S promoter. Northern analysis of 10 plants showed high levels of pEGF-specific mRNA in 8 plants. A sandwich ELISA was developed using an anti-histidine monoclonal Ab to coat the plates and bind the pEGF in plant extracts, followed by addition of the chicken anti-pEGF and a secondary Ab conjugated to AP. Protein extracts from a bulked sample of leaves from R0 plants contained pEGF at ~0.12% of total protein. A detailed analysis of pEGF expression in R1 plants will be presented along with data related to biological activity.