Medicago sativa Engineering Service at CD BioGlyco

Medicago sativa, also known as alfalfa, is an important leguminous plant widely used in agriculture. Through synthetic biology methods such as gene editing and metabolic pathway modification, the synthesis pathways of glycan and glycoproteins in M. sativa can be optimized to improve their yield and quality. These technologies precisely manipulate the metabolic network of plants to produce glycans with specific structures to meet the needs of industrial production and medicine. GlycoChas™ Cells is a professional platform for synthetic glycobiology developed by CD BioGlyco and is designed to genetically engineer a variety of Plant Chassis, including M. sativa chassis. We modify these plants at the genetic level and provide customized engineering services to create plant chassis with the ability to create specific desired traits or abilities.

• Genome editing

  Genome editing is an important method to alter glycobiological pathways in M. sativa. In M. sativa engineering, gene editing can be used for the following applications.

  • Editing transcription factor and enzyme genes: By editing transcription factor and enzyme genes related to glycan synthesis, the activity of specific metabolic pathways can be up or down-regulated, thereby optimizing the production of glycan and glycoproteins. For example, editing the sucrose synthase gene or the sucrose transporter gene to increase sucrose production.

  • Knocking out or silencing negative regulatory genes: Identifying and knocking out / silencing negative regulatory genes that inhibit glycan synthesis relieves restrictions on the glycan synthesis pathway and further increases glycan production.

  The key genome editing technologies we use include but are not limited to:

  • Transgenic technology: This involves transferring the desired genetic sequence into the DNA of M. sativa.

  • Sense, antisense, and RNA interference (RNAi) strategies: These strategies inhibit the expression of specific genes through sequence-specific RNA degradation.

  • CRISPR-Cas9: This is a method that cuts DNA at specific locations, allowing genes to be added or removed.

  • TALENs: This technology allows genes to be added or removed at a certain location.

• Metabolic pathway modification

  Metabolic pathway modifications involve changing the processes that cells use to produce glycans and glycoproteins. Through genetic modification, the enzymes involved in the nucleotide glycan metabolism and glycosylation pathways are altered and the process can be redirected to produce the desired glycan or glycoprotein.

  Modified metabolic pathways include but are not limited to:

  • Sucrose synthesis pathway: Sucrose production can be increased by optimizing enzyme activity and gene expression in the sucrose synthesis pathway. This involves the modification of key enzymes such as sucrose phosphate synthase and sucrose synthase.

  • Glycoprotein synthesis pathway: Glycoproteins are proteins containing glycan chains and have a variety of biological functions. The structure and length of the glycan chain can be optimized to produce glycoproteins with specific functions by engineering the glycoprotein synthesis pathway.

• Carbohydrate and glycoprotein production by M. sativa engineering

  A variety of glycans and glycoproteins can be produced using M. sativa engineering. These include N-glycans (found in glycoproteins), which are critical for protein folding and stability, and O-glycans, which are involved in cell signaling. Additionally, other types of unique glycans such as fucose and sialic acid are available.

  Altered glycosylation pathways also have the potential to generate bioactive plant glycans and glycoforms for therapeutic purposes. For example, glycosylation can be engineered to produce monoclonal antibodies.

Applications of M. sativa Engineering

• Through gene editing and metabolic engineering, the carbohydrate synthesis pathway in M. sativa can be optimized to improve carbohydrate yield and quality. For example, introducing efficient sucrose synthase genes promotes the accumulation of sucrose, or reduces glycan consumption by inhibiting enzyme activity related to glycan degradation.
• M. sativa is an ideal bioreactor for the production of pharmaceutical glycoproteins. Through genetic engineering, genes encoding medicinal glycoproteins can be introduced into M. sativa so that they are expressed and accumulated in the plant. This method has the advantages of low production cost, high production efficiency, and good safety.

Advantages of Us

• We have extensive experience and expertise to deeply understand the biology and metabolic pathways of M. sativa. This provides clients with customized services to solve specific problems encountered in production and research.
• M. sativa is a plant-based system that is generally less expensive to produce bioactive molecules than mammalian cell lines or microbial systems.
• M. sativa has proven to be a powerful system for the production of recombinant glycoproteins. It offers high yields, making it a smart choice for commercial production of therapeutic molecules.

CD BioGlyco provides state-of-the-art technological solutions for M. sativa engineering. In addition to supplying M. sativa chassis, our service includes an inclusive range of glycan and glycoprotein products produced in the process. We aim to facilitate biological research and innovation for our broad clients by leveraging our advanced resources and expertise. We welcome clients to contact us for any inquiries or further assistance regarding our M. sativa engineering service.

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