Biotechnological Production of Phytochemicals

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is related to the biotechnological production of phytochemicals and aims to acquire a chemical and biological approach for the synthesis of compounds with pharmacological activity produced by plants.

Plants have been used since ancient time as medicines by all civilizations around the world, and even now they are the most important source of new drugs. Plant-derived natural compounds can be categorized into mainly three groups: alkaloids, polyphenols, and terpenes. Although some of them can be synthesized chemically, most are extracted from the plant due to their highly complex structures. To meet the ever-increasing demand for phytochemicals, plant biotechnology, based on in vitro culture and genetic and metabolic engineering techniques, has proven to be a promising tool to increase the production of these bioactive compounds.

Empirical approaches have been employed for the development and optimization of plant-cell-based bioprocesses for phytochemical production. An empirical approach typically optimizes the plant cell culture system regarding its input factors, including cell line, culture medium, growth regulators, culture parameters, bioreactors, process operations, etc. and output factors such as cell growth, nutrient uptake, productivity, and yield. However, no information is gained about what is happening in the producer cells at the molecular level. By contrast, the latter can be achieved through a rational approach, which is based on genetic and metabolic engineering techniques. With this approach, we can study how input factors change the metabolic and transcriptomic profile of the target cell cultures.

Powerful new biotechnology tools are currently available, such as those used in studies of functional genomics viz. transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. The application of metabolic engineering techniques involving the modification of endogenous pathways probably constitutes one of the most promising strategies to develop biotechnological processes for producing high-value phytochemicals at an industrial level.

We invite investigators to contribute original research and review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to increase phytochemical production from different plant species by employing several biotechnological techniques. A special interest will be given to papers exploring plant cells for optimized and large-scale production of compounds of interest in an economic and environment-friendly way.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

1. a) Plant-derived natural compounds, their mode of action and synthesis;
2. b) Production of phytochemicals using various biotechnological means;
   c) Cell (suspension or immobilized) and organ (root/shoot) culture for plant-derived natural products;
   d) Genetically-modified plants;
   e) Hairy root culture;
   f) Two-stage and two-phase culture systems;
   g) Effect of physicochemical factors on phytochemical production;
3. h) Phytochemicals with various applications and industrial perspectives.

Prof. Dr. Mercedes Bonfill
Dr. Sonia Malik
Dr. Raul Sanchez-Munoz
Guest Editors

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• biotechnological production
• bioreactors
• bioactive compounds
• cell cultures
• hairy roots
• metabolic engineering
• natural products
• medicinal chemistry