Plant Cell Cultures For Production Research Articles

Utilization of plant cell cultures for production of biochemicals

The potential biotechnological application of plant cell cultures for the production of various biochemicals and possible advantages of such a process are reviewed. To date, only one commercial process based on the culture of plant cells for the production of a chemical compound (shikonin) is in operation, and this process is briefly described. Problems related to the large-scale culture of plant cells are also discussed, and a comparison between microbial cells and cultured plant cells is used to illustrate some special features of the plant cells that complicate scaling up. Methods available for the establishment of high yielding cell cultures are described. Finally, the potentials of immobilized plant cells for the production of biochemicals are discussed. Various methods available for the immobilization of plant cells are briefly reviewed and some characteristics of such biocatalysts are given. The possible advantages of immobilized plant cells over suspension cells are pointed out.

Combination of conditioned medium and elicitation enhances taxoid production in bioreactor cultures of Taxus chinensis cells

Stimulating effects of conditioned medium (CM) addition and its combination with methyl jasmonate (MJA) elicitation on production of physiologically active taxuyunnanine C (TC) by cell cultures of Taxus chinensis were demonstrated in both a shake flask and a 1-l (working volume) concentric-tube airlift bioreactor. In control cell cultures, average cell growth rates were 0.117±0.003 per day in the flask and 0.086±0.001 per day in the airlift bioreactor. With addition of 50% (by volume) CM on day 0, an average growth rate of 0.153±0.006 per day in flask and 0.125±0.003 per day in bioreactor was obtained, and the maximum cell density (on day 11) was 15.0±0.1 g l −1 in flask and 15.5±0.8 g l −1 in bioreactor. TC production and productivity were 43.0±17.6 mg l −1 and 1.0±0.8 mg l −1 per day in bioreactor control cultures, and a much higher production of 78.9±20.6 mg l −1 and productivity of 4.5±1.2 mg l −1 per day were obtained in bioreactor cultures with CM addition. Combination of CM addition with MJA (at 100 μM) elicitation enhanced TC productivity in bioreactors by about 30% when compared with the cultures with only MJA elicitation, i.e., increased from 9.2±0.9 to 11.8±0.9 mg l −1 per day. The work is potentially beneficial to large-scale plant cell cultures for production of the bioactive secondary metabolite.

Production of anthocyanins by plant cell cultures

Anthocyanins, responsible for the various attractive colors in plants, are becoming important alternative to many synthetic colorants due to increased public concerns over the safety of artificial food colors. Production of anthocyanins by plant cell cultures has been suggested as a feasible technology that has attracted considerable industrial and academic interests in the past two decades. This paper is to provide an overview of the present status and the future prospects in the commercial development of plant cell cultures for production of anthocyanins. The focus is on the strategies for enhancement of anthocyanin biosynthesis to achieve an economically viable technology for commercial applications. Through strain improvement, optimization of media and culture conditions, and intelligent process strategies such as elicitation and two-stage system, significant enhancement in productivity has been achieved in a number of cultures. However the yield of anthocyanins obtained so far is still far away from the full potential of anthocyanin synthesis by plant cell cultures. Further improvements require the insights on the regulation of anthocyanin synthesis, accumulation, storage and breakdown that will eventually lead to genetic manipulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Many studies have elucidated the metabolic pathway of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Preliminary studies on the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis on the levels of genes and enzymes are reviewed, showing that it is feasible to clone genes from secondary metabolism with an improved yield of anthocyanins. There is currently no commercial-scale trial for production of anthocyanin by plant cell cultures, but an intelligent integration of those existing strategies could provide a technology for industrial application competitive to the current production methods.

Plant Biotechnology: Promises and Challenges .

Development of procedures in cell biology to regenerate plants from single cells in any desired quantity provides the prerequisite for the practical use of plant tissue culture and genetic engineering in crop improvement. Such regenerating cell cultures are used for selection of mutants and for DNA transformation experiments. DNA transfer by means of engineered Ti and Ri plasmids has become an established technique for the rapidly growing list of dicotyledonous plants. Considerable success has also been achieved in making gene transfer techniques independent of cell culture methods. These techniques have given the opportunity to create, characterise and select plant cultivars which cannot be obtained by traditional breeding methods. The exploitation of plant cell cultures for production of pharmaceuticals, natural products of commercial importance and mass propagation of high-value crops by automation, have developed into an important industry with considerable potential for future. This paper discusses the recent advances and applications of plant biotechnology in agriculture and industry and the challenges the still exist.