In the first part of the course the student will be made familiar with plant secondary metabolism, and the biosynthetic pathways involved. The possible role of secondary metabolites will be touched upon. The economic importance and potential of plant secondary metabolites as fine chemicals and important traits of plants concerning quality and resistance will be discussed. The technological and economic feasibility of the large-scale culture of plant cells for the production of secondary metabolites will then be extensively discussed. The major constraints will be pointed out and the possible solution to these problems. Examples of different promising processes will be given, and other applications such as bioconversion of added compounds will be discussed.
The approaches to improve productivity will then be described. The limitations of screening and selection and medium optimization will be discussed. The approaches of culturing differentiated cells, elicitation and immobilized cells will be described. Problems involved as stability and technological constraints will be pointed out. Finally the most recent development, the use of metabolic engineering will be discussed in detail. What are the possibilities, what knowledge is needed? In this connection regulation of plant secondary metabolism will be briefly touched upon. The future importance of biodiversity for secondary metabolites, but also for industrially interesting enzymes and genes will be dealt with.
Coordinator
Prof.dr.R.Verpoorte: verpoort@chem.leidenuniv.nl
Methods of instruction
To illustrate the whole process of developing an industrial process, the students will be offered a case study. In groups of two or three, the students will collect, read and discuss literature on the production of a given compound in plant cell cultures, with the aim to come to a proposal for a research project to achieve a commercial process.
Examination
The results will be presented in the form of an oral presentation and a written report
Course requirements/recommendations
This course is open for anyone with a background in biology, biotechnology, LST, chemistry and bio-pharmaceutical sciences.
Application
application form available from www.studiegidsen.leidenuniv.nl > Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen > Biologie > Forms > Mastercourses
Course objective
The course aims at making the student familiar with the following topics: – what is plant secondary metabolism, – biosynthetic pathways secondary metabolites, technology of large scale plant cell culture, – approaches for increasing secondary metabolite production in plant cell cultures, -regulation plant secondary metabolism, – metabolic engineering secondary metabolism, – future prospects.