Plants as chemical and

pharmaceutical factories
V.P.S. Shekhawat
 Plants as a source of Chemicals !
• Role
– Color or fragrance
– Taste and Color of food
– Resistance against pests and diseases
• Production of chemicals
– Drugs
– Antioxidants
– Flavors
– Fragrance
– Dyes
– Insecticides and Pheromones
 Some Facts !
• 13000 plants species
• 25% of materia medica is derived from
plants
• 100,000 compounds are known today
• 4000 are added every year
• Largest proportion of these compound
consists of terpenoids (~30%), followed by
alkaloid (~20%)
 Secondary metabolites !
• These compounds are not involved in the
basic metabolic processes of the living
cells, but are involved in the interaction of
the living cells, but are involved in the
interaction of the producing organism with
its environment.
 Production of Phytochemicals
• Total chemical synthesis
• Extraction and purification from plant
material
• Partial chemical synthesis
 Sources
• Wild plant resources
• Cultivation of medicinal plants by
conventional farming
Biotechnological Production of Phytochemicals

• Plant Cell Cultures

• Transgenic microorganisms
• Transgenic plants or plant cell cultures
• Isolated enzymes
 Plant Cell Cultures and
Production of Phytochemicals
 Advantages
• Production can be more reliable, simpler
and Predictable
• Easy Isolation
• Interfering compounds can be avoided
• To test various enhancement treatments
 Strategies to improve productivity
• Screening and selection
• Medium optimization
• Differentiated Cells
• Immobilized cells
• Elicitation
 Metabolic Engineering
• Metabolic engineering involves the
targeted and purposeful alteration of
metabolic pathways found in an organism
to achieve better understanding and use of
cellular pathways for chemical
transformation, energy transduction, and
supra-molecular assembly (Lessard,1996).
 Metabolic engineering to Improve yields

• The carbon flux towards the desired

product
– Overcoming rate-limiting steps
– Blocking competitive pathways.
• Blocking of catabolism
• Increasing activity of an enzyme
 Metabolic engineering require:
• Thorough knowledge of the biosynthetic
pathways
• Identify the enzymes involved
• Rate limiting (regulatory) step
• Feedback mechanisms and
Compartmentation.