Plants as Bioreactors for Human Health Nutrients

One of the biggest challenges in the coming years is to reduce the impact of chronic diseases. Unhealthy eating is an increasing problem and underlies much of the increase in mortality from chronic diseases that are occurring worldwide. Diets based on plant foods are strongly associated with reduced risks in major chronic diseases, but the constituents in plants that promote health have proved difficult to identify. Plant cells have been used, in the past two decades, as efficient host systems with great potential for the expression of foreign proteins and for the production of nonprotein bioactive small molecules. Till date, the systems implemented include a variety of approaches using whole plants, plant tissue cultures, and cell cultures for the synthesis of a myriad of compounds that include foreign protein expression for the production of antibodies and vaccines. Plant cells have also been used as bioreactors for the massive production on plant-derived bioactive small molecules which are important dietary components or used in the industry as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, flavors, and fragrances. Plant genetics and metabolic engineering can be used to make foods that differ only in their content of specific phytonutrients.