Plant Metabolic Engineering
نویسندگان
چکیده
The advent of recombinant DNA technologies over the past 20–30 yr has resulted in an impressive emergence of metabolic engineering as a powerful complement to classical chemical synthesis for the production of specialized pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds. The simplicity and low cost of growing plants makes them ideal systems for metabolic engineering. Here, we intend to provide a perspective of the advantages of plants for metabolic engineering, highlighting the significant hurdles that still need to be overcome. This entry begins by introducing plant metabolic engineering and by providing an overview of the main systems available, whole plants or plant cells in culture. We then describe the different approaches on hand for increasing flux through existing metabolic pathways and end by providing a perspective of the future of plants as chemical factories for the production of industrial materials and pharmaceuticals, or for removing pollutants from the environment.
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