University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College

Thinking differently about tobacco, Plant research uses tobacco species to produce life-saving antibodies

By Lori Bona Hunt
Excerpt Guelph Alumnus
Illustration by Paul Watson

Tobacco is getting an image makeover at the University of Guelph. Prof. Chris Hall and his research group are determining how to use the plant to improve and save human lives. The irony is not lost on the environmental biologist.

"Improving health isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think about tobacco," he says. "Most people think of tobacco as a drug of abuse that causes cancer, emphysema and other negative health effects. So it would be nice to take the plant and have it do good in society."
The "societal good" that might result from Hall's research could include detecting deadly bacteria in food and water, such as the type of E. coli that contaminated the water supply and led to the deaths of seven people in Walkerton two years ago. It may also mean identifying and removing environmental contaminants, treating cancer and even allowing a person to take a home test to determine if he or she is having a stroke or just suffering from a migraine headache.

Hall is introducing genes to produce antibodies in low-nicotine sterile tobacco plants, which some scientists call "protein plants" because they're different from traditional tobacco plants. Antibodies are large, complex proteins that cells of the vertebrate immune system produce to fight invaders such as bacteria and viruses. For decades, scientists have harnessed the mammalian immune system to produce antibodies that, once extracted from the animal, can be used as pharmaceuticals, for detecting and monitoring bacteria in food products or the environment, or for use as therapies to treat human diseases such as cancer. For example, as cancer therapies, antibodies work by recognizing and linking themselves to the cancer cells in the body, activating the body's own defence mechanisms to attack these cells. Now Hall, following methods developed by scientists before him, is cultivating methods to produce large quantities of antibodies in plants, a process known as molecular farming. He is genetically engineering the plants to produce antibodies C or "plantibodies" as they are called.