Native and non-native host assessment towards metabolic pathway reconstructions of plant natural products

• Main Authors: Ipsita Pujari, Abitha Thomas, Vidhu Sankar Babu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: Biotechnology Reports
• Subjects: Heterologous hosts; Metabolic engineering; Single plant cells; Synthetic biology; Transgenesis
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215017X21000357

Plant-based biopreparations are reasonably priced and are devoid of viral, prion and endotoxin contaminants. However, synthesizing these natural plant products by chemical methods is quite expensive. The structural complexity of plant-derived natural products poses a challenge for chemical synthesis at a commercial scale. Failure of commercial-scale synthesis is the chief reason why metabolic reconstructions in heterologous hosts are inevitable. This review discusses plant metabolite pathway reconstructions experimented in various heterologous hosts, and the inherent challenges involved. Plants as native hosts possess enhanced post-translational modification ability, along with rigorous gene edits, unlike microbes. To achieve a high yield of metabolites in plants, increased cell division rate is one of the requisites. This improved cell division rate will promote cellular homogeneity. Incorporation and maintenance of plant cell synchrony, in turn, can program stable product scale-up.