Effect of High Electrical Conductivity of Hydroponic Nutrient Solution on Vaccine Protein Content in Transgenic Tomato

Summary

Using greenhouse tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) as a model system to produce pharmaceutical proteins, electrical conductivity (EC) of hydroponic nutrient solution was examined as a possible factor that affects the protein concentration in fruit. Transgenic tomato plants, expressing F1-V protein, a plant-made candidate subunit vaccine against plague (Yersinia pestis), were grown hydroponically at high (5.4 dS·m −1) or conventional EC [2.7 dS·m −1 (control)] with a high-wire system in a temperature-controlled greenhouse. There was no significant difference in plant growth and development including final shoot dry weight (DW), leaf area, stem elongation rate, or leaf development rate between high EC and control. Net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance (g S) of lea