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Updated: May 14, 2026
07:50
Efficient Agroinfiltration of Plants for High-level Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins
Published on: July 23, 2013
Plant cells as pharmaceutical factories
Heiko Rischer1, Suvi T Häkkinen, Anneli Ritala
1VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, 02044 VTT (Espoo), Finland. heiko.rischer@vtt.fi
Current Pharmaceutical Design
|February 12, 2013
Summary
Plants are valuable sources of complex pharmaceuticals. Biotechnological production in plant cell cultures offers a sustainable alternative to chemical synthesis and natural sourcing for high-value compounds.
Area of Science:
- Plant biotechnology
- Metabolic engineering
- Pharmaceutical production
Background:
- Plant-derived molecules constitute a significant portion of current drugs, particularly for cancer and microbial infections.
- Complex structures of many plant secondary metabolites hinder economical chemical synthesis and sustainable natural sourcing.
- Previous understanding of plant metabolic pathways and their regulation was limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in elucidating complex plant biosynthetic pathways.
- To discuss the biotechnological production of high-value pharmaceuticals in plant cell cultures.
- To highlight the potential of 'Green Factories' for sustainable drug manufacturing.
Main Methods:
- Advanced multigene transformation techniques.
- State-of-the-art metabolomics platforms.
- Systems-level analysis of plant metabolic pathways.
Main Results:
- Metabolic engineering and advanced tools enable new strategies for plant-based drug production.
- Elucidation of complex biosynthetic pathways is crucial for successful engineering.
- Successful production of pharmaceuticals like paclitaxel, tropane, morphine, and terpenoid indole alkaloids in plant systems.
Conclusions:
- Biotechnological production in plant cell cultures is a viable and attractive alternative for high-value plant secondary metabolites.
- Metabolic engineering offers powerful tools to overcome challenges in producing complex pharmaceuticals from plants.
- Continued research in plant metabolism and engineering is key to unlocking the full potential of 'Green Factories'.
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