Our researchers have a wide range of skills in immunology, molecular biology, natural product chemistry and biochemistry.We can control, through expression of antibody fragments, molecular processes within plants or plant cells. This allows us to answer fundamental questions related to the role of specific molecules. Antibodies are generated as part of an animal's natural defence when it is exposed to foreign substances. White blood cells produce a single antibody species, termed a monoclonal antibody (MAb). MAbs bind to a specific region on the foreign substance, enabling it to be eliminated. Immunologists have developed animal cell culture technologies to produce cell lines that secrete MAbs to compounds of interest and utilise the specificity of these antibodies to detect, measure and purify molecules present in complex biological mixtures.
We can produce antibodies to potential hazardous substances such as pesticides and antibiotics that enter our food and environment. These antibodies have also been used to develop rapid immunoassays for detecting and quantifying residues. The binding site on the antibody molecule represents only a small portion, known as the hypervariable region, of the antibody molecule. Molecular biology has allowed scientists to construct antibody fragments, single chain hyperervariable regions termed ScFvs, and express them in plants. We are experts in the production of monoclonal antibodies and antibody fragments. As well as preparing Mabs to proteins, we have developed skills to generate antibodies to small biological and synthetic molecules, and developed inducible systems to express them in plants.
Small biological molecules perform many functions in plants. For example, small molecules secreted by pathogens allow them to invade plant tissue, while others act as hormones co-ordinating developmental processes and pathogen/pest responses. The Immunomolecular Biology team has developed technologies to block the functions of small molecules by removing them through binding by the ScFvs. Antibodies can also be generated to the hypervariable regions and these anti-idiotypic antibodies can mimic the original small molecule. ScFvs are encoded by a single gene and so can be expressed more easily than small molecules, which are often products of multiple genes. By expressing antibody mimics, under the control of suitable inducible promoter systems in plants, we can study the role of bioactive molecules in plant processes.
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