knowledge on this phenomenon will generate possibilities to moderate disease
susceptibility and other agronomic characteristics in plants.
15.7 Plant-Based Factories of Bioactive Molecules
(Alternative Models)
The production of the previously described molecules in plant bioreactors involve
the use of whole plants and plant cell cultures from different species of mono and
dicots as well as the use of specific moss species. In this section we describe and
discuss the current status, the advantages and disadvantages, and the overall
potential of the use of the diverse plant-based bioreactor systems (Prakash et al.
2008; Schawb et al. 2008).
15.7.1 What to Produce and How?
15.7.1.1 Plant-Derived Bioactive Molecules
Plants are sessile organisms which have evolved a myriad of responses to their
land-based, freshwater, and marine environments to rapidly overcome and adapt in
function of specific biotic and abiotic stresses. The refined developmental and
biochemical plasticity reached by plants along the time involves molecular
diversity. An organism which is able to face a myriad of external stimulus needs a
vast variety of metabolites to deal with the changing environment.
Therefore, plants have evolved diverse pathways of plant secondary metabolism, several of which have been the focus of study during decades and small
molecules derived from these pathways have shown to be bioactive and functional
for health and nutrition of humans and other animals. Several others have been
recognized as important in diverse industrial sectors as sweeteners, flavors, fragrances, and insect repellents. Although plants produce many of these molecules,
they are not produced in the required amounts for industrial requirements in order
to be competitive in a specific market. This is a challenge that has led to the design
of new strategies for plant bioreactors to increase the production of a given
molecule. In the subsequent paragraphs, we provide examples of the current
research strategies and applications of bioreactors devoted for the production of
these nonprotein bioactive molecules.
In order to improve the production of native or non-native molecules which are
the result of a metabolic pathway, several approaches have been used in the recent
years. In theory, engineering the metabolic pathway of a native molecule is a
straightforward strategy to increase the yields of the metabolite. However, in
practice this is not so easy, it has to be considered that plants have also evolved
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L. A. Cruz-Ramírez et al.
susceptibility and other agronomic characteristics in plants.
15.7 Plant-Based Factories of Bioactive Molecules
(Alternative Models)
The production of the previously described molecules in plant bioreactors involve
the use of whole plants and plant cell cultures from different species of mono and
dicots as well as the use of specific moss species. In this section we describe and
discuss the current status, the advantages and disadvantages, and the overall
potential of the use of the diverse plant-based bioreactor systems (Prakash et al.
2008; Schawb et al. 2008).
15.7.1 What to Produce and How?
15.7.1.1 Plant-Derived Bioactive Molecules
Plants are sessile organisms which have evolved a myriad of responses to their
land-based, freshwater, and marine environments to rapidly overcome and adapt in
function of specific biotic and abiotic stresses. The refined developmental and
biochemical plasticity reached by plants along the time involves molecular
diversity. An organism which is able to face a myriad of external stimulus needs a
vast variety of metabolites to deal with the changing environment.
Therefore, plants have evolved diverse pathways of plant secondary metabolism, several of which have been the focus of study during decades and small
molecules derived from these pathways have shown to be bioactive and functional
for health and nutrition of humans and other animals. Several others have been
recognized as important in diverse industrial sectors as sweeteners, flavors, fragrances, and insect repellents. Although plants produce many of these molecules,
they are not produced in the required amounts for industrial requirements in order
to be competitive in a specific market. This is a challenge that has led to the design
of new strategies for plant bioreactors to increase the production of a given
molecule. In the subsequent paragraphs, we provide examples of the current
research strategies and applications of bioreactors devoted for the production of
these nonprotein bioactive molecules.
In order to improve the production of native or non-native molecules which are
the result of a metabolic pathway, several approaches have been used in the recent
years. In theory, engineering the metabolic pathway of a native molecule is a
straightforward strategy to increase the yields of the metabolite. However, in
practice this is not so easy, it has to be considered that plants have also evolved
442
L. A. Cruz-Ramírez et al.