Products
TetraExpress™
Tetragenetics, Inc. offers a novel, platform technology for the production of genetically engineered proteins, by harnessing the unique biology of Tetrahymena thermophila, a common pondwater ciliate, and long a model for basic research. Tetrahymena combines ease of growth with facile genetics in a complex, unicellular eucaryote that produces high yields of recombinant protein at extremely low cost. The technology is particularly well suited to the production of eucaryotic membrane and secretory proteins that are difficult to express in conventional systems. Such proteins include vaccine antigens, monoclonal antibodies, and a variety of therapeutic proteins for the treatment and prevention of human and animal diseases.
Expression of a parasite membrane proteins under the control of two different inducible promoters (P1 and P2). As determined from comparisons with known amounts of standard (1-20 ng), expression at levels of 2% of total cell protein are easily achievable in Tetrahymena.
Status
- GPI-anchored membrane proteins from pathogenic protozoa to levels of ~ 300mg/l
- High-level expression of foreign genes under the control of a strong inducible promoter using a new rDNA-based vector that replicates to 9,000 copies per cell (18,000 copies of transgene)
- Fully sequenced macronuclear genome (27K genes with many encoding ion channels, ABC transporters, GPCR’s, Polo, Aurora and NIMA kinases, etc.)
- Successfully expressed human and other vertebrate proteins with no codon optimization
Advantages
- Cells can be readily transformed with foreign DNA using electroporation or biolistic bombardment
- Stably transformed cell lines are readily established using artificial chromosomes or stable integration via homologous recombination into the host genome
- Expressed membrane proteins are appropriately modified, disulfide-bonded and targeted to the cell surface
- Protein glycosylation patterns have a simple N-glycoside structure lacking non-mammalian types of modifications such as mannose-rich residues often found in yeast, or xylose residues found in plants
- Cells are amenable to high-throughput screening based on growth assays with fluorescent (constitutive GFP-producing) or colorimetric (pigment-producing) strains
IchVax™
The first in a line of products exploiting the biotechnological advantages of the TetraExpress™ system, IchVax™ is a novel recombinant subunit vaccine for the prevention of white-spot disease in freshwater fish.
White spot disease, scientifically known as Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich), causes high mortalities and heavy economic loss both in ornamental fish and in the aquaculture industry. Tissue damage caused by Ich, particularly to gill tissue, is a major threat to fish health and can be the site for secondary bacterial or fungal infections. Current chemical treatments are cost-prohibitive as well as polluting to groundwater and/or carcinogenic.
Off-the-shelf treatments for white-spot disease in aquariums generate approximately $2M in annual retail sales. The pet fish industry is currently untapped from the perspective of veterinary vaccines. Tetragenetics has recently entered into a sponsored research agreement with a leading animal health company in order to commercialize this vaccine.
