Type I
allergy is an immunological disorder triggered by
allergens and causes significant health problems. The major
allergen of birch pollen is Bet v 1, which belongs to the pathogen-related
protein 10 (PR-10) family. Here, we established a rapid and robust method for the production of Bet v 1 in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, with binding activity to allergic patients'
IgE. The Bet v 1
allergen was expressed in N. benthamiana using a strong agroinfiltration-based transient
protein expression system, which consists of a deconstructed geminiviral vector system with a double terminator. Five days post-infiltration, the
allergen concentration in N. benthamiana leaves was 1.2 mg/g of fresh mass, being this the maximum yield of Bet v 1 in plants reported up to now. A part of plant-derived Bet v 1 was glycosylated. Bet v 1 purified from N. benthamiana or Brevibacillus brevis was used to carry out
enzyme-linked immunoassays; both recombinant
allergens were found to have comparable binding properties to the
IgE of allergic patients. These results suggest that our plant expression system allows rapid and robust production of the
allergen, which keeps the immunogenicity.