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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Designer plants churn out antibodies against emerging microbes

Bioengineering technique allows scientists to create plants that can protect themelves from pests and diseases.
Red, green and blue coloured transmission electron micrograph of potato X virus

Particles of potato virus X (artificially coloured), which infects not only potato, but also tomato and tobacco. Plants engineered to make hybrid immune molecules can resist the virus. Credit: Dr Linda Stannard, UCT/Science Photo Library

Plants can resist viral infections after being engineered to make ‘pikobodies’ — synthetic immune proteins built partly of miniature antibodies found in llamas and their relatives1.

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Nature 615, 376 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00618-9

References

  1. Kourelis, J., Marchal, C., Posbeyikian, A., Harant, A. & Kamoun, S. Science 379, 934–939 (2023).

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