The invention relates to -galactosidase truncated at the carboxy terminus
and the production of enzymatically active recombinant human and animal lysosomal
enzymes involving construction and expression of recombinant expression constructs
comprising coding sequences of human or animal lysosomal enzymes in a plant expression
system. The plant expression system provides for post-translational modification
and processing to produce a recombinant gene product exhibiting enzymatic activity.
The invention is demonstrated by working examples in which transgenic tobacco plants
express recombinant expression constructs comprising human glucocerebrosidase nucleotide
sequences. The invention is also demonstrated by working examples in which transfected
tobacco plants express recombinant viral expression constructs comprising human
galactosidase nucleotide sequences. The recombinant lysosomal enzymes produced
in accordance with the invention may be used for a variety of purposes, including
but not limited to enzyme replacement therapy for the therapeutic treatment of
human and animal lysosomal storage diseases.
