Abstract
Plants synthesize an extensive array of secondary metabolites, often
with highly complex structures. Currently, most pharmaceutically
important secondary metabolites are isolated from wild or cultivated
plants because their chemical synthesis is not economically feasible.
Biotechnological production in plant cell cultures is an attractive
alternative, but to date this has had only limited commercial success
because of a lack of understanding of how these metabolites are
synthesized. Here, we discuss how the spectacular advances in plant
genomics and metabolite profiling offer unprecedented possibilities to
explore the extraordinary complexity of the plant biochemical capacity.
State-of-the art genomics tools can be used to enhance the production of
known target metabolites or to synthesize entire novel compounds by
so-called combinatorial biochemistry in cultivated plant cells.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 433 - 440 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Trends in Plant Science |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2004 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- metabolomics
- plant metabolites
- metabolites
- secondary metabolism
- secondary metabolites
- plants