Genetic engineering platform for expressing recombinant milk proteins in mexican soybean varieties

Overview

This research program focuses on developing Mexican soybean as a biofactory for recombinant milk proteins, combining plant biotechnology with food and nutritional applications. The team has established that Mexican soybean varieties—particularly Huasteca-100, Nainari, and Suaqui-86—are suitable for direct regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using cotyledonary node explants. By engineering expression cassettes for milk proteins, the researchers aim to enhance the nutritional and functional properties of soybean, offering a plant-based route to producing dairy-equivalent proteins.

The work addresses growing demand for alternative proteins and functional foods, particularly in markets where soybean is already a staple crop. Successful development could enable local production of high-value milk proteins, reducing dependency on traditional dairy supply chains.

Technical specifications

Key features and methods:

• Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 used for genetic transformation of soybean genotype Suaqui-86
• Cotyledonary node explants selected as the most responsive tissue for regeneration and transformation among three Mexican varieties
• Binary vectors pB2GW7.0-Milk proteins and pB2GW7.0-Gus (control) used for gene delivery
• Molecular characterization confirmed gene integration and transcript expression of the bar selectable marker and milk protein genes
• Protein expression validated by Western Blot analysis in transgenic callus lines
• Transformation efficiencies of 27–42% achieved in stable transgenic calli

Known challenges:

• Stable transgenic whole plants have not yet been produced using the cotyledonary node approach
• Recombinant milk proteins form stable associations with native soybean proteins, complicating purification

Technology readiness level

The platform is currently at an early-to-mid stage of development. Stable transgenic callus lines have been produced and molecularly characterized, demonstrating proof of concept for gene integration and protein expression. However, full plant regeneration and scalable protein purification remain to be achieved. Future validation will focus on inducing somatic embryos to regenerate transformed plants, testing seed-specific and inducible promoters for tissue-targeted expression, targeting proteins to specific intracellular compartments, and characterizing post-translational modifications via mass spectrometry. The research is positioned for collaborative development toward commercial-scale plant-based production of milk proteins.