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A clinical trial run by an established UK company has identified two natural plant molecules that inhibit skin inflammation. Unfortunately, the amount of these molecules from the source plant is very low and therefore extraction from the source plant is not feasible on an industrial scale. A potential solution to this problem is to use cultured plant cells, which can been grown on a large scale in multi-tonne bioreactors and optimised for the production of these target plant natural products. Significantly, by employing non-GM genetic approaches, the yield of these target molecules will be significantly increased in these cultured plant cells. This approach will also enable new insights into the biochemical regulation of these molecules within the source plant, potentially leading to further improvements in yield. The target natural products isolated from the generated plant cell lines will also be tested and compared to the same molecules extracted from the source plant in a large number of biomedical-based assays. It is anticipated this work will show the molecules produced from the generated plant cell lines are functionally equivalent to those extracted from the source plant. Once confirmed, and beyond the scale of this particular research project, the company will scale-up the growth of the generated plant cells and isolate the target molecules for their introduction into commercial products.
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