Plant cell cultures: Chemical factories of secondary metabolites

S R Rao; G A Ravishankar

doi:10.1016/s0734-9750(02)00007-1

Plant cell cultures: Chemical factories of secondary metabolites

Biotechnol Adv. 2002 May;20(2):101-53. doi: 10.1016/s0734-9750(02)00007-1.

Authors

S R Rao¹, G A Ravishankar

Affiliation

¹ Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1, Asahidai, Tatsunokuchi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan. srrao@jaist.ac.jp

PMID: 14538059
DOI: 10.1016/s0734-9750(02)00007-1

Abstract

This review deals with the production of high-value secondary metabolites including pharmaceuticals and food additives through plant cell cultures, shoot cultures, root cultures and transgenic roots obtained through biotechnological means. Plant cell and transgenic hairy root cultures are promising potential alternative sources for the production of high-value secondary metabolites of industrial importance. Recent developments in transgenic research have opened up the possibility of the metabolic engineering of biosynthetic pathways to produce high-value secondary metabolites. The production of the pungent food additive capsaicin, the natural colour anthocyanin and the natural flavour vanillin is described in detail.