Metabolic engineering of plant cells using SOLUCEL technology

SOLUCEL technology is based on the current advancement in understanding plant genomes, and on the development of novel tools for high throughput selecting and testing genes involved in the production of plant secondary metabolites. It can be applied (i) to enhance the production of marketed high-value pharmaceuticals in plant cell cultures (ii) to develop reliable and reproducible sources of plant-derived molecules with potential pharmaceutical value, and (iii) to increase the chemical diversity of plant based molecules through Combinatorial Biochemistry. We have developed this technology using the nicotine alkaloid biosynthesis pathway as a model system. A few examples will be given of how overexpressing some novel genes can be used either to tailor cell cultures to enhance the production of nicotine alkaloids or to direct biosynthetic pathways in related plant species. Furthermore, these novel genes may play an important role in secondary metabolism as master regulators in general.