Next-generation metabolic engineering approaches towards development of plant cell suspension cultures as specialized metabolite producing biofactories

• Published in: Biotechnology advances 2020-12, Vol.45, p.107635-107635, Article 107635
• Main Authors: Arya, Sagar S., Rookes, James E., Cahill, David M., Lenka, Sangram K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial gene cluster; Artificial Intelligence; Computational modeling; CRISPR-Cas Systems; Family Characteristics; Gene Editing; Metabolic Engineering; Plant cell suspension culture; Plant Cells; Plant gene clusters; Plant specialized metabolites
• ISSN: 0734-9750; 1873-1899
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2020.107635

Plant cell suspension culture (PCSC) has emerged as a viable technology to produce plant specialized metabolites (PSM). While Taxol® and ginsenoside are two examples of successfully commercialized PCSC-derived PSM, widespread utilization of the PCSC platform has yet to be realized primarily due to a lack of understanding of the molecular genetics of PSM biosynthesis. Recent advances in computational, molecular and synthetic biology tools provide the opportunity to rapidly characterize and harness the specialized metabolic potential of plants. Here, we discuss the prospects of integrating computational modeling, artificial intelligence, and precision genome editing (CRISPR/Cas and its variants) toolboxes to discover the genetic regulators of PSM. We also explore how synthetic biology can be applied to develop metabolically optimized PSM-producing native and heterologous PCSC systems. Taken together, this review provides an interdisciplinary approach to realize and link the potential of next-generation computational and molecular tools to convert PCSC into commercially viable PSM-producing biofactories. Strategies to harness the metabolic diversity of plants and use it to transform plant cell suspension cultures into specialized metabolite producing biofactories. [Display omitted] •Next-generation genome engineering tools offer a new avenue to harness the specialized metabolic potential of plant cells•Advanced computational tools can identify genes, plant gene clusters and regulatory elements of specialized metabolism•Precision molecular tools can characterize computationally predicted genetic/epigenetic signatures of specialized metabolism•Synthetic biology can help to translate these genetic signatures into artificial gene clusters•Transformation of artificial gene clusters in plant cells could make it primary sources of valuable metabolites for commerce