Question
Explain with examples how transgenic plants can be used as factories or bioreactors?
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Answer
- Transgenic plants are potential factories or bioreactors for biochemicals and biopharmaceuticals like starch, sugar, lipids, proteins, hormones, antibodies, vaccines or enzymes.
- Various fine chemicals, perfumes, adhesive compounds industrial lubricants, etc. can be isolated from plants.
- Plants can be the source of biodegradable plastic and ‘renewable’ energy to replace fossil fuels.
- Transgenic plants useful for production of novel drugs like interferons, edible vaccines, antibodies, amino acids, immunotherapeutic drugs, etc. Thus, they are like bioreactors for molecular farming.
- The gene for Human growth hormone has been inserted into the chloroplast DNA of tobacco plants.
- Humanized antibodies against HIV, Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Herpes simplex virus (HSV), the cause of “cold sores” are developed using transgenic plants.
- Superglue’ is a biochemical glue for body repairs during surgery. It is produced by tobacco plants which contain genes encoding for adhesive proteins which allow marine mussels to stick to rocks.
- Protein antigens to be used in vaccines : e.g. Patient-specific antilymphoma vaccines. B-cell lymphomas are clones of malignant B cells expressing a unique antibody molecule on their surface.
- Transgenic plants cam be used as factories for producing oil having nutritional value like cod-liver oil. These plants are engineered with a oil encoding gene from marine algae.
- Transgenic plants produce the antimalarial drug, Artemisinin.
- Genetically engineered opium poppy can be used to produce powerful painkillers.
- Transgenic plants like potatoes, tomatoes, bananas, soybeans, alfalfa and cereals can be used as edible vaccine.
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