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Abstract

ABSTRACT
Synthetic biology has been developing rapidly in the last decade and is increasingly attracting the attention of many plant biologists. The production of high-value plant specific secondary metabolites is however, mostly limited to microbes. This is potentially problematic, due to incorrect post-translational modification of proteins, different micro-compartmentalization of proteins, substrate availability, chaperone availability, product toxicity and cytochromes p450 enzyme reductase. Unlike other heterologous systems, plant cells could be a promising alternative source for the production of high-value metabolites. Several commercial plant suspension cell cultures from different plant species have been successfully used to produce valuable metabolites with low cost, safety and by environmentally friendly means. However, few metabolites are currently being biosynthesized using plant platforms, with the exception of the natural pigment, anthocyanin. Both Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tabacum cell cultures can be developed by multiple gene transformations and genome editing by CRISPR-Cas9. Given that the introduction of heterologous biosynthesis pathways into Arabidopsis and N. tabacum metabolites is not widely used, the biosynthesis of foreign metabolites is currently limited; however, therein lies great potential. Here, we discuss the exemplary use of plant cell cultures as well as the prospective of using A. thaliana and N. tabacum cell cultures to produce valuable plant specific metabolites.