Award details

Production of recombinant adhesive protein in plants

ReferenceP09350
Principal Investigator / Supervisor Professor Simon McQueen-Mason
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Dr Jurgen Denecke
Institution University of York
DepartmentBiology
Funding typeResearch
Value (£) 193,187
StatusCompleted
TypeResearch Grant
Start date 01/06/1998
End date 01/02/2002
Duration44 months

Abstract

Mussel adhesive proteins form highly resistant strong bonds with an array of surfaces and can fix under water (a property not found in man-made glues). The fixed glue is neither cytotoxic nor antigenic. These properties have led to predictions of wide-ranging applications in engineering and medicine. The natural source of protein is too limited to allow exploitation. Attempts to produce recombinant adhesive proteins in microbes have failed due to problems in processing repetitive DNA and differences in codon use. A certain class of plant structural proteins are composed of a repetitive motif nearly identical to mussel adhesives. In addition, codon use between mussels and plants is similar. We plan to investigate the use of plants to produce recombinant adhesive proteins in order to provide the essential foundation for wide-ranging applications.

Summary

unavailable
Committee Closed Committee - Plant & Microbial Sciences (PMS)
Research TopicsX – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research PriorityX – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative X - not in an Initiative
Funding SchemeX – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme
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