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Recombinant proteins are crucial in pharmaceutical and other industries. A production method uses plants as hosts in transient protein expression systems. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba developed a technique to increase recombinant protein expression in lettuce by inhibiting RNA-dependent RNA polymerase.

Recombinant protein production for pharmaceuticals and other applications often involves infecting plants with bacteria carrying specific genes to accumulate desired proteins in plants. Researchers have developed a novel system called the "Tsukuba system," which enables high-yield protein production in plants, comparable to traditional systems, such as Escherichia coli.

In a published in Plant Cell Reports, lettuce was used as the host plant to enhance recombinant protein expression.

In plants, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) plays a key role in RNA interference by suppressing foreign gene expression. By suppressing the expression of the RDR gene family in lettuce, a more than twofold increase in recombinant protein expression was achieved, representing the highest protein expression level reported in lettuce to date and highlighting the method's effectiveness.

Nicotiana benthamiana (tobacco) is commonly used for protein production, whereas lettuce is mainly cultivated in plant factories. Using lettuce as a host plant can help in the mass production of genetically modified proteins and provide a promising alternative for large-scale protein production.