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New developments in engineering plant metabolic pathways

A review of the current state-of-the-art in plant engineering. The publication presents how: - Plant metabolic pathways can be reconstituted in heterologous hosts. - Metabolism in crop plants can be engineered to improve the production of biofuels. - Crops can be engineered to express metabolic pathways that improve human health.

New developments in engineering plant metabolic pathways

Plants contain countless metabolic pathways that are responsible for the biosynthesis of complex metabolites. Armed with new tools in sequencing and bioinformatics, the genes that encode these plant biosynthetic pathways have become easier to discover, putting us in an excellent position to fully harness the wealth of compounds and biocatalysts (enzymes) that plants provide. For overproduction and isolation of high-value plant-derived chemicals, plant pathways can be reconstituted in heterologous hosts. Alternatively, plant pathways can be modified in the native producer to confer new properties to the plant, such as better biofuel production or enhanced nutritional value. This perspective highlights a range of examples that demonstrate how the metabolic pathways of plants can be successfully harnessed with a variety of metabolic engineering approaches.

Figure: Tatsis & O'Connor (2016), New developments in engineering plant metabolic pathways. Current Opinion in Biotechnology.

Categorie

  • Biochimica
  • Organismi geneticamente modificati (OGM)
  • Piante
  • Tecnologia genetica