[en] Plants are promising hosts for the production of complex recombinant pharmaceuticals, such as antibodies (mAbs), because they offer an inexpensive and safer alternative to traditional production systems. The plant-based production of mAbs, which are multimeric glycoproteins, require their targeting to the secretory pathaway where they are properly folded and matured. However, co-secretion of endogenous proteases, which can represent up to 10% of the extracellular proteins (secretome), is known to significantly alter the yield and quality of secreted mAbs. In this study, we analyzed the proteolytic activities in root-secretome of Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tabacum. Root-secretomes were recovered by salt extraction and the protease activity was assayed in vitro or by zymography, in a range of pH. The relative contribution of protease classes was evaluated with specific inhibitors.
