Speciality Chemicals Magazine SEP / OCT 2024 | Page 72

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BIOBASED CHEMICALS
The slow growth of Taxus species , the host plant producing paclitaxel , did not allow the use of agricultural production of this potent anticancer drug . Therefore , a technology was developed in the 1990s based on cultured cells of Taxus chinensis . 12 , 13 The induction of paclitaxel production was achieved by exposing the cultured cells to a combination of biotic and abiotic stress factors . 13
This induction strategy ( also called elicitation ) is widely used to induce the production of plant-derived metabolites . However , paclitaxel is the only compound where this strategy has turned out to be profitable so far .
The reason for the low success rate of plant cell-culture based strategies is the low effectiveness of elicitation . Accordingly , alternative methods need to be developed that can facilitate the high-level accumulation of complex plant metabolites , which is our research focus .
Conclusion
Plant-derived pharmaceuticals are essential for human health and wellbeing . They play a pivotal role as potent antibiotics , anticancer agents , and analgesics . Surprisingly their production often relies on field-cultivated raw material and subsequent purification of the active compound ( s ).
To mitigate risks associated with agriculture-based production alternative production technologies are in the forefront of research . As chemical synthesis and metabolic engineering could not provide a universal solution to produce plantderived pharmaceuticals , other means to trigger product formation in plants should be elucidated . ●
References 1 : D . J . Newman & G . M . Cragg , J . Nat . Prod ., 2020 , 83 , 770 – 803 2 : https :// www . linkedin . com / pulse / 2023- artemisinin-market-future-growth-research /. 3 : https :// www . precedenceresearch . com / paclitaxel-injection-market . 4 : https :// www . who . int / publications / i / item / WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2023.02 .
5 : N . Ozber , J . L . Watkins & P . J . Facchini , J . Ind . Microbiol . Biotechnol . 2020 , 47 , 815 – 828 6 : C . Zhu & S . P . A . Cook , J . Am . Chem . Soc ., 2012 , 134 , 13577 – 13579 7 : L . Min et al ., Chem . Rev . 2023 , 123 , 4934 – 4971 8 : M . E . Pyne , L . Narcross & V . J . J . Martin , Plant Physiol . 2019 , 179 , 844 – 861 9 : C . J . Paddon & J . D . Keasling , Nat . Rev . Microbiol ., 2014 , 12 , 355 – 367
10 : I . J . Trenchard & C . D . Smolke , Metab . Eng . 2015 , 30 , 96 – 104 11 : M . E . Pyne et al ., Nat . Commun ., 2020 11 , 3337 12 : J . Pezzuto , Nat . Biotechnol . 1996 , 14 , 1083 – 1083 13 : J . Wu & L . Lin , Appl . Microbiol . Biotechnol ., 2003 , 62 , 151 – 155
Dr Martin Trinker
DIRECTOR , BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & FUNDRAISING
ACIB
k + 43 316 873 9316 J martin . trinker @ acib . at j www . acib . at

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