With a daily production of 400 to 2500 milligrams of protein per egg, the chicken ovomucoid and ovalbumin gene loci have the potential to synthesize large amounts of biopharmaceutical proteins in transgenic hens. This phase II SBIR project will test the feasibility of using large oviduct protein genomic locus expression constructs, created and tested in phase I, to drive efficient expression of biopharmaceutical proteins into egg white of transgenic hens. The bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) constructs to be used contain the complete ovomucoid or ovalbumin genomic locus with IRES-transgene cassettes inserted into the 3' UTR of the mRNA transcript The transgenes contained in these constructs are a human monoclonal antibody and an immunoglobulin fusion protein. Transgenic birds will be generated by microinjection of early embryos followed by transfer of the ovum to the oviduct of recipient hens. Transgenic protein from Go, G1 and G2 birds will be assessed for expression levels, and bioactivity.
