Specialized secondary metabolites serve not only to protect plants against abiotic and biotic challenges, but have also been used extensively by humans to combat diseases. Due to the great importance of medicinal plan...Specialized secondary metabolites serve not only to protect plants against abiotic and biotic challenges, but have also been used extensively by humans to combat diseases. Due to the great importance of medicinal plants for health, we need to find new and sustainable ways to improve the production of the specialized metabolites. In addition to direct extraction, recent progress in metabolic engineering of plants offers an alternative supply option. We argue that metabolic engineering for producing the second- ary metabolites in plants may have distinct advantages over microbial production platforms, and thus pro- pose new approaches of plant metabolic engineering, which are inspired by an ancient Chinese irrigation system. Metabolic engineering strategies work at three levels： introducing biosynthetic genes, using tran- scription factors, and improving metabolic flux including increasing the supply of precursors, energy, and reducing power. In addition, recent progress in biotechnology contributes markedly to better engineering, such as the use of specific promoters and the deletion of competing branch pathways. We propose that next-generation plant metabolic engineering will improve current engineering strategies, for the purpose of producing valuable metabolites in plants on industrial scales.展开更多
Nutrient deficiencies in crops are a serious threat to human health,especially for populations in poor areas.To overcome this problem,the development of crops with nutrient-enhanced traits is imperative.Biofortificati...Nutrient deficiencies in crops are a serious threat to human health,especially for populations in poor areas.To overcome this problem,the development of crops with nutrient-enhanced traits is imperative.Biofortification of crops to improve nutritional quality helps combat nutrient deficiencies by increasing the levels of specific nutrient components.Compared with agronomic practices and conventional plant breeding,plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology strategies are more effective and accurate in synthesizing specific micronutrients,phytonutrients,and/or bioactive components in crops.In this review,we discuss recent progress in the field of plant synthetic metabolic engineering,specifically in terms of research strategies of multigene stacking tools and engineering complex metabolic pathways,with a focus on improving traits related to micronutrients,phytonutrients,and bioactive components.Advances and innovations in plant synthetic metabolic engineering would facilitate the development of nutrient-enriched crops to meet the nutritional needs of humans.展开更多
Abstract: Over the past decade, the evolving commercial importance of so-called plant secondary metabolites has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism and, particularly, in the possibilities to enhance t...Abstract: Over the past decade, the evolving commercial importance of so-called plant secondary metabolites has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism and, particularly, in the possibilities to enhance the yield of fine metabolites by means of genetic engineering. Plant alkaloids, which constitute one of the largest groups of natural products, provide many pharmacologically active compounds. Several genes in the tropane alkaloids biosynthesis pathways have been cloned, making the metabolic engineering of these alkaloids possible. The content of the target chemical scopolamine could be significantly increased by various approaches, such as introducing genes encoding the key biosynthetic enzymes or genes encoding regulatory proteins to overcome the specific rate-limiting steps. In addition, antisense genes have been used to block competitive pathways. These investigations have opened up new, promising perspectives for increased production in plants or plant cell culture. Recent achievements have been made in the metabolic engineering of plant tropane alkaloids and some new powerful strategies are reviewed in the present paper.展开更多
Photosynthesis in crops and natural vegetation allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy and thus forms the foundation for almost all terrestrial trophic networks on Earth.The efficiency of photosynthet...Photosynthesis in crops and natural vegetation allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy and thus forms the foundation for almost all terrestrial trophic networks on Earth.The efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion plays a crucial role in determining the portion of incident solar radiation that can be used to generate plant biomass throughout a growth season.Consequently,alongside the factors such as resource availability,crop management,crop selection,maintenance costs,and intrinsic yield potential,photosynthetic energy use efficiency significantly influences crop yield.Photosynthetic efficiency is relevant to sustainability and food security because it affects water use efficiency,nutrient use efficiency,and land use efficiency.This review focuses specifically on the potential for improvements in photosynthetic efficiency to drive a sustainable increase in crop yields.We discuss bypassing photorespiration,enhancing light use efficiency,harnessing natural variation in photosynthetic parameters for breeding purposes,and adopting new-to-nature approaches that show promise for achieving unprecedented gains in photosynthetic efficiency.展开更多
文摘Specialized secondary metabolites serve not only to protect plants against abiotic and biotic challenges, but have also been used extensively by humans to combat diseases. Due to the great importance of medicinal plants for health, we need to find new and sustainable ways to improve the production of the specialized metabolites. In addition to direct extraction, recent progress in metabolic engineering of plants offers an alternative supply option. We argue that metabolic engineering for producing the second- ary metabolites in plants may have distinct advantages over microbial production platforms, and thus pro- pose new approaches of plant metabolic engineering, which are inspired by an ancient Chinese irrigation system. Metabolic engineering strategies work at three levels： introducing biosynthetic genes, using tran- scription factors, and improving metabolic flux including increasing the supply of precursors, energy, and reducing power. In addition, recent progress in biotechnology contributes markedly to better engineering, such as the use of specific promoters and the deletion of competing branch pathways. We propose that next-generation plant metabolic engineering will improve current engineering strategies, for the purpose of producing valuable metabolites in plants on industrial scales.
基金This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31971915)the Major Program of Guangdong Basic and Applied Research(2019B030302006).
文摘Nutrient deficiencies in crops are a serious threat to human health,especially for populations in poor areas.To overcome this problem,the development of crops with nutrient-enhanced traits is imperative.Biofortification of crops to improve nutritional quality helps combat nutrient deficiencies by increasing the levels of specific nutrient components.Compared with agronomic practices and conventional plant breeding,plant metabolic engineering and synthetic biology strategies are more effective and accurate in synthesizing specific micronutrients,phytonutrients,and/or bioactive components in crops.In this review,we discuss recent progress in the field of plant synthetic metabolic engineering,specifically in terms of research strategies of multigene stacking tools and engineering complex metabolic pathways,with a focus on improving traits related to micronutrients,phytonutrients,and bioactive components.Advances and innovations in plant synthetic metabolic engineering would facilitate the development of nutrient-enriched crops to meet the nutritional needs of humans.
文摘Abstract: Over the past decade, the evolving commercial importance of so-called plant secondary metabolites has resulted in a great interest in secondary metabolism and, particularly, in the possibilities to enhance the yield of fine metabolites by means of genetic engineering. Plant alkaloids, which constitute one of the largest groups of natural products, provide many pharmacologically active compounds. Several genes in the tropane alkaloids biosynthesis pathways have been cloned, making the metabolic engineering of these alkaloids possible. The content of the target chemical scopolamine could be significantly increased by various approaches, such as introducing genes encoding the key biosynthetic enzymes or genes encoding regulatory proteins to overcome the specific rate-limiting steps. In addition, antisense genes have been used to block competitive pathways. These investigations have opened up new, promising perspectives for increased production in plants or plant cell culture. Recent achievements have been made in the metabolic engineering of plant tropane alkaloids and some new powerful strategies are reviewed in the present paper.
基金funding by the European Union H2020 Program(project GAIN4CROPS,GA no.862087,to B.S.,G.F.,G.C,D.T.,T.M.,T.J.E.,A.P.M.W.,M.H.,E.N.S.,O.E.,J.M.H.,and T.T.)the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft(Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences[CEPLAS]under Germany’s Excellence Strategy EXC-2048/1 under project ID 390686111 to B.S.,O.E.,and A.P.M.W.and CRC TRR 341“Plant Ecological Genetics”to B.S.and A.P.M.W.).
文摘Photosynthesis in crops and natural vegetation allows light energy to be converted into chemical energy and thus forms the foundation for almost all terrestrial trophic networks on Earth.The efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion plays a crucial role in determining the portion of incident solar radiation that can be used to generate plant biomass throughout a growth season.Consequently,alongside the factors such as resource availability,crop management,crop selection,maintenance costs,and intrinsic yield potential,photosynthetic energy use efficiency significantly influences crop yield.Photosynthetic efficiency is relevant to sustainability and food security because it affects water use efficiency,nutrient use efficiency,and land use efficiency.This review focuses specifically on the potential for improvements in photosynthetic efficiency to drive a sustainable increase in crop yields.We discuss bypassing photorespiration,enhancing light use efficiency,harnessing natural variation in photosynthetic parameters for breeding purposes,and adopting new-to-nature approaches that show promise for achieving unprecedented gains in photosynthetic efficiency.
