Materials and methods for amplifying polynucleotides in plants

Abstract

Products and methods for amplifying target nucleic acids using cells derived from plants are disclosed. The products include nucleic acids containing a plant active Amplification Promoting Sequence (APS) and the methods exploit these products in amplifying target nucleic acids. Also disclosed are methods for amplifying target nucleic acids that express an encoded product, and the recovery of that expression product. The methods of the invention minimize operator intervention and exploit solar energy and the minimal nutrient needs of photoautotrophic organisms to provide inexpensive and indefinitely sustainable methods for producing a variety of amplified target nucleic acids and encoded products such as polypeptides.