PLANTS AS BIOREACTORS

Transgenic plants are an attractive and cost-effective alternative to microbial systems for the production of biomolecules. Advances in biot echnology are enabling plants to be exploited as bioreactors for the p roduction of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, Not only might 'tailo r-made' saccharides and fatty acids of non-plant origin be synthesized in plants, but the overproduction of plant metabolites should also be feasible. Plants are also becoming economically important systems for producing heterologous proteins. Expressing heterologous proteins in plant material that is used in human food or animal feed allows protei ns to be applied orally or topically without having to purify them fro m the plant material. Plants have a distinct advantage for these appli cations.