Cloning, Transformation and Expression of Human Gamma Interferon Gene in Tomato (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.)

The demand for recombinant proteins for therapeutic or diagnostic use is expanding rapidly in recent years. Human gamma interferon (Hu-IFN-γ) is one of these proteins against viruses that it has a high value in therapy Therefore interferon is used against viral infection, cancer and autoimmune diseases. In this study appropriate primers were designed and used for PCR amplification of the Hu-IFN-γ gene which was cloned in the plant expression vector pCAMBIA1304. The created construct was transferred in Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 and used for transformation of tomato cotyledon explants. The presence of the Hu-IFN-γ transgene in the genomic DNA of transgenic plants was proven by PCR. Finally, total protein of tomato was extracted and the presence of Hu-IFN-γ proteins was detected using dotblot assay.