Phosphorus-controllable recombinant expression of polypeptides in plants

摘要

Materials and methods relating to the use of phosphorus-controllable plant promoters to express operably linked polynucleotides in plant cells, intact plant portions or whole plants, and the optional recovery of the expressed polypeptides, are disclosed. The materials of the invention are the recombinant expression units including a phosphorus-controllable plant promoter and an operably linked, non-native, polynucleotide coding region. The methods of the invention use plant materials that are intact, living and capable of secreting (plant cells) or exuding (intact plant portions and whole plants) the expressed polypeptides. The methods of the invention minimize operator intervention and exploit solar energy and the minimal nutrient needs of photoautotrophic organisms to provide inexpensive and indefinitely sustainable methods for controllably producing a variety of coding region products.