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Judit Berman,
Changfu Zhu,
Eduard Pérez-Massot,
Gemma Arjó,
Uxue Zorrilla-López,
Gemma Masip,
Raviraj Banakar,
Georgina Sanahuja,
Gemma Farré, Bruna Miralpeix,
Chao Bai,
Evangelia Vamvaka,
Maite Sabalza,
Richard M Twyman,
Ludovic Bassié,
Teresa Capell,
Paul Christou
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ABSTRACT: Genetically engineered (GE) crops can be used as part of a combined strategy to address food insecurity, which is defined as a lack of sustainable access to safe and nutritious food. In this article, we discuss the causes and consequences of food insecurity in the developing world, and the indirect economic impact on industrialized countries. We dissect the healthcare costs and lost productivity caused by food insecurity, and evaluate the relative merits of different intervention programs including supplementation, fortification and the deployment of GE crops with higher yields and enhanced nutritional properties. We provide clear evidence for the numerous potential benefits of GE crops, particularly for small-scale and subsistence farmers. GE crops with enhanced yields and nutritional properties constitute a vital component of any comprehensive strategy to tackle poverty, hunger and malnutrition in developing countries and thus reduce the global negative economic effects of food insecurity.
Plant Molecular Biology 02/2013; · 4.15 Impact Factor
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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.
Current pharmaceutical design 02/2013; · 4.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Molecules derived from plants make up a sizeable proportion of the drugs currently available on the market. These include a number of secondary metabolite compounds the monetary value of which is very high. New pharmaceuticals often originate in nature. Approximately 50% of new drug entities against cancer or microbial infections are derived from plants or micro-organisms. However, these compounds are structurally often too complex to be economically manufactured by chemical synthesis, and frequently isolation from naturally grown or cultivated plants is not a sustainable option. Therefore the biotechnological production of high-value plant secondary metabolites in cultivated cells is potentially an attractive alternative. Compared to microbial systems eukaryotic organisms such as plants are far more complex, and our understanding of the metabolic pathways in plants and their regulation at the systems level has been rather poor until recently. However, metabolic engineering including advanced multigene transformation techniques and state-of-art metabolomics platforms has given us entirely new tools to exploit plants as Green Factories. Single step engineering may be successful on occasion but in complex pathways, intermediate gene interventions most often do not affect the end product accumulation. In this review we discuss recent developments towards elucidation of complex plant biosynthetic pathways and the production of a number of high-value pharmaceuticals including paclitaxel, tropane, morphine and terpenoid indole alkaloids in plants and cell cultures.
Current pharmaceutical design 02/2013; · 4.41 Impact Factor
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Eduard Pérez-Massot,
Raviraj Banakar,
Sonia Gómez-Galera,
Uxue Zorrilla-López,
Georgina Sanahuja,
Gemma Arjó, Bruna Miralpeix,
Evangelia Vamvaka,
Gemma Farré,
Sol Maiam Rivera,
Svetlana Dashevskaya,
Judit Berman,
Maite Sabalza,
Dawei Yuan,
Chao Bai,
Ludovic Bassie,
Richard M Twyman,
Teresa Capell,
Paul Christou,
Changfu Zhu
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ABSTRACT: Malnutrition is a prevalent and entrenched global socioeconomic challenge that reflects the combined impact of poverty, poor access to food, inefficient food distribution infrastructure, and an over-reliance on subsistence mono-agriculture. The dependence on staple cereals lacking many essential nutrients means that malnutrition is endemic in developing countries. Most individuals lack diverse diets and are therefore exposed to nutrient deficiencies. Plant biotechnology could play a major role in combating malnutrition through the engineering of nutritionally enhanced crops. In this article, we discuss different approaches that can enhance the nutritional content of staple crops by genetic engineering (GE) as well as the functionality and safety assessments required before nutritionally enhanced GE crops can be deployed in the field. We also consider major constraints that hinder the adoption of GE technology at different levels and suggest policies that could be adopted to accelerate the deployment of nutritionally enhanced GE crops within a multicomponent strategy to combat malnutrition.
Genes & Nutrition 08/2012; · 2.51 Impact Factor
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Nature Biotechnology 04/2011; 29(4):315-7. · 29.50 Impact Factor
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Dawei Yuan,
Ludovic Bassie,
Maite Sabalza, Bruna Miralpeix,
Svetlana Dashevskaya,
Gemma Farre,
Sol M Rivera,
Raviraj Banakar,
Chao Bai,
Georgina Sanahuja, [......],
Eva Avilla,
Uxue Zorrilla-López,
Nerea Ugidos-Damboriena,
Alberto López,
David Almacellas,
Changfu Zhu,
Teresa Capell,
Gunther Hahne,
Richard M Twyman,
Paul Christou
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ABSTRACT: The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are international development targets for the year 2015 that aim to achieve relative improvements in the standards of health, socioeconomic status and education in the world's poorest countries. Many of the challenges addressed by the MDGs reflect the direct or indirect consequences of subsistence agriculture in the developing world, and hence, plant biotechnology has an important role to play in helping to achieve MDG targets. In this opinion article, we discuss each of the MDGs in turn, provide examples to show how plant biotechnology may be able to accelerate progress towards the stated MDG objectives, and offer our opinion on the likelihood of such technology being implemented. In combination with other strategies, plant biotechnology can make a contribution towards sustainable development in the future although the extent to which progress can be made in today's political climate depends on how we deal with current barriers to adoption.
Plant Cell Reports 03/2011; 30(3):249-65. · 2.27 Impact Factor
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Ariadna Peremarti,
Richard M Twyman,
Sonia Gómez-Galera,
Shaista Naqvi,
Gemma Farré,
Maite Sabalza, Bruna Miralpeix,
Svetlana Dashevskaya,
Dawei Yuan,
Koreen Ramessar,
Paul Christou,
Changfu Zhu,
Ludovic Bassie,
Teresa Capell
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ABSTRACT: Multigene transformation (MGT) is becoming routine in plant biotechnology as researchers seek to generate more complex and ambitious phenotypes in transgenic plants. Every nuclear transgene requires its own promoter, so when coordinated expression is required, the introduction of multiple genes leads inevitably to two opposing strategies: different promoters may be used for each transgene, or the same promoter may be used over and over again. In the former case, there may be a shortage of different promoters with matching activities, but repetitious promoter use may in some cases have a negative impact on transgene stability and expression. Using illustrative case studies, we discuss promoter deployment strategies in transgenic plants that increase the likelihood of successful and stable multiple transgene expression.
Plant Molecular Biology 03/2010; 73(4-5):363-78. · 4.15 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The global impact of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is increasing and traditional preventative 'safe sex' strategies do not seem to be slowing the spread of this virus. With an efficacious vaccine at least a decade away, the only strategy to avoid the ever-increasing cost of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is to develop new methods that prevent virus transmission. Microbicides are topically-applied molecules that disrupt the HIV cycle and block infection. This review discusses the current state of the art in microbicide development, looking at the most clinically advanced microbicides and those at earlier development stages based on their mechanisms of action. The socioeconomic impact of microbicide use is also considered, as this will determine whether microbicides are taken up and used consistently by the target population.
Current pharmaceutical design 11/2009; 16(4):468-85. · 4.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Maize (also known as corn) is a domesticated cereal grain that has been grown as food and animal feed for tens of thousands of years. It is currently the most widely grown crop in the world, and is used not only for food/feed but also to produce ethanol, industrial starches and oils. Maize is now at the beginning of a new agricultural revolution, where the grains are used as factories to synthesize high-value molecules. In this article we look at the diversity of high-value products from maize, recent technological advances in the field and the emerging regulatory framework that governs how transgenic maize plants and their products are grown, used and traded.
Biotechnology advances 29(1):40-53. · 8.25 Impact Factor
