Biotechnology applications of plant cell cultures

Research into the biotechnological applications of in-vitro plant cells has been concentrated into dealing with one of the major problems in the area, namely the production, accumulation, and collection of non-polar volatile constituents of pharmaceutical interest. The major classes of compounds studied include Tobacco alkaloids, mono- and sesqui-terpenes and the glucosinolates.

Obstacles to overcome include the fact that these secondary metabolites are toxic to the plant cells when they accumulate, and as they are not soluble in aqueous growth media and volatile at low temperatures they naturally volatilise and escape.

Techniques used to solve these problems have included:

• Immobilisation of the plant cells
• Use of two phase systems
• Application of elicitors
• Feeding of intermediates
• Use of polymeric controlled release of precursors and molecularly imprinted polymers to collect end products

A wide range of in-vitro methodology and analytical techniques are used during this work.