title: Metabolic engineering of plant secondary products: which way forward?
abstract: Secondary products are small molecular weight compounds produced by secondary metabolic pathways in plants. They are regarded as non-essential for normal growth and development but often confer benefits such as defense against pathogens, pests and herbivores or the attraction of pollinators. Many secondary products affect the survival and/or behavior of microbes, insects and mammals and they often have useful pharmacological effects in humans. Most secondary products can only be obtained as extracts from medicinal plants, many of which grow slowly and are difficult to cultivate. Chemical synthesis, although possible in principle, is often impractical or uneconomical due to the complexity of their molecular structures. The large scale production of secondary products by metabolic engineering has therefore been investigated in a number of heterologous systems including microbes, plant cell/organ cultures, and intact plants. In this critical review of production platforms for plant secondary products, we discuss the advantages and constraints of different approaches and the impact of post-genomics technologies on gene discovery and metabolite analysis. We highlight bottlenecks that remain to be overcome before the routine exploitation of secondary products can be achieved for the benefit of mankind.
authors: Departament de Produccio Vegetal I Ciencia Forestal (PVCF), Universitat de Lleida-Agrotecnio Center, Av. Alcalde Rovira Roure, 177, Lleida, E-25198, Spain. bruna.miralpeix@pvcf.udl.cat
authors: Bruna
authors: B
authors: Miralpeix
authors: Heiko
authors: H
authors: Rischer
authors: Suvi T
authors: ST
authors: Häkkinen
authors: Anneli
authors: A
authors: Ritala
authors: Tuulikki
authors: T
authors: Seppänen-Laakso
authors: Kirsi-Marja
authors: KM
authors: Oksman-Caldentey
authors: Teresa
authors: T
authors: Capell
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Christou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D060847:Metabolic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts