Trypzean™: An animal-free alternative to bovine trypsin

Abstract

Trypsin derived from either porcine or bovine pancreas is widely used in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. This industry is working toward replacing animal source materials with alternatives to prevent contamination of the products with mammalian viruses and human pathogens. Bovine trypsin made in maize seed culminated in a commercial product, TrypZean™, which is a possible replacement product for use in cell culture and viral vaccine manufacturing, as well as in the processing of therapeutic proteins. This chapter describes the development of this product from a plant biotechnology perspective and then discusses how it is being used today. Possible improvements to make this product more cost competitive are discussed.