Applications of Plant Biotechnology

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Plant biotechnology is the branch of applied science which deals with modification and improvement of plants using modern laboratory techniques.

It is the process by which the genetic material of plant is identified and altered in order to develop desirable characters. This process is carried out in a more precise and faster way than traditional cross breeding methods.

The main approaches of plant biotechnology are–

Plant tissue culture – It is the technique in which small pieces of plant tissue or cells are grown under sterile condition to produce many identical plants. These plants are disease free and genetically similar.

Molecular breeding – It is the method where DNA markers are used for selecting superior plant traits at early stage. This is referred to as marker assisted selection.

Genetic engineering – It is the direct insertion or editing of specific genes into the plant genome using advanced molecular tools (CRISPR). The foreign gene is introduced to express a particular character.

By altering the genetic constitution of plant, improved crop varieties are developed.

These crops are resistant to pests and diseases. They are also tolerant to harsh environmental conditions like drought and salinity.

Plant biotechnology also increases nutritional value of crops and improves yield.

Among the important applications, plants are used as bio-factories for production of biofuels, biodegradable plastics and biopharmaceuticals such as therapeutic antibodies and edible vaccines.

Thus, plant biotechnology is an important field which helps in agriculture, medicine and industrial production.

Applications of Plant Biotechnology in Agriculture and Food Production

  • Pest and disease resistance – Genetically modified crops are developed to produce insecticidal proteins in plant itself. Bt corn Bt cotton and Bt brinjal are the examples. Advanced RNA interference (RNAi) is also used as a smart pesticide and harmful insects are targeted without harming beneficial species.
  • Herbicide tolerance – Crops are engineered to withstand broad-spectrum weed killers like glyphosate. Soybean and canola are the common examples. It allows farmers to control weeds efficiently without damaging main food crop.
  • Climate change resilience – Precision genome-editing tools like CRISPR/Cas9 are used for developing climate-smart crops. These crops are capable for surviving extreme weather conditions. Drought- and salt-tolerant rice varieties (Pusa DST Rice 1) and heat-resilient maize are developed in this method.
  • Nutritional biofortification – Vitamin and mineral content of staple foods are increased to combat malnutrition (hidden hunger). Golden Rice is engineered for Vitamin A provision. CRISPR-edited tomatoes enriched with Vitamin D high-GABA tomatoes for blood pressure control and ultra-high-protein soybean are also produced.
  • Shelf-life extension and food waste reduction – Gene editing and RNAi is used to silence enzymes responsible for oxidation. This is referred to as non-browning produce. Arctic Apple non-browning potatoes mushrooms and bananas are commercialized examples and agricultural waste is reduced.
  • Enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) – Crops are engineered or synthetic biology is used for transferring nitrogen-fixing capability from bacteria to non-leguminous crops like rice and wheat. Nutrient absorption is increased high yield is maintained and reliance on synthetic fertilizers are reduced.
  • Disease-free clonal propagation – Plant tissue culture (micropropagation) is used to multiply uniform disease-free clones from small tissue sample. It is useful for vegetatively propagated crops like banana strawberry and timber trees. Large number of plants are produced in short time.
  • Accelerated breeding and yield optimization – Plant architecture is modified for increasing productivity (leaf width grain size stomatal density). CRISPR is also used for reducing flowering time of some trees from 10 years to 3 months and breeding programs are accelerated.

Applications of Plant Biotechnology in Medicine and Healthcare

  • Production of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) – Plants are used as rapid scalable bio-factories for producing therapeutic antibodies. Nicotiana benthamiana is commonly used. Antibodies are produced for cancers (colorectal cancer checkpoint inhibitors like anti-CTLA-4) HIV (2G12 antibody) Ebola (ZMapp cocktail) West Nile virus and SARS-CoV-2.
  • Edible and recombinant vaccines – Edible plants are genetically engineered to express pathogen antigens. Banana potato and tomato are used. It stimulates mucosal and systemic immunity when consumed and it is used for diseases like Hepatitis B cholera Norwalk virus and rabies. Plant platforms are also used for producing injectable recombinant vaccines (COVIFENZ VLP vaccine for COVID-19).
  • Therapeutic proteins and hormones – Vital human proteins and hormones are synthesized by plant expression system. Recombinant human insulin human growth hormone (protropin) somatostatin and interferons are produced. These protein is used for treatment of viral infections. Taliglucerase alfa is also produced in plants and it is an FDA-approved recombinant enzyme for Gaucher’s disease.
  • Complex pharmaceutical molecules – Plant synthetic biology is used for reprogramming metabolic pathways and complex medicinal compounds are manufactured. Artemisinin (antimalarial drug) paclitaxel (taxol) precursors and vaccine adjuvants like QS-7 saponin are produced. It reduces dependency on chemical synthesis and natural extraction.
  • Diagnostic reagents – Plant-derived antibodies and antigens are produced for diagnostic assays. Serological antigens are used for detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Antibodies fused with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) are also produced and it is used in ELISA-based infectious disease diagnostics.

Applications of Plant Biotechnology in Environment and industry

Environment

  • Phytoremediation and Bioremediation – It is the process in which plants are engineered to absorb degrade and detoxify pollutants from contaminated soil and water. Plants like sunflower Indian mustard and willows are used. The pollutants include heavy metals (arsenic lead cadmium) explosives like TNT and petroleum hydrocarbons.
  • Carbon sequestration – Biotechnology is used for developing super-sequestering trees and perennial crops. These crops are designed for maximum capture and storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This process occurs when plant biomass is increased and carbon is stored for long period.
  • Reduction of chemical pollution – Genetically modified pest-resistant crops are grown (Bt cotton and Bt maize). The use of chemical pesticides is reduced and chemical residues in soil groundwater and food is minimized. The carbon emission related with pesticide application are also reduced.
  • Wastewater treatment – Microalgae are deployed for removal and biological degradation of pollutants from industrial wastewater. Persistent pollutants like synthetic dyes heavy metals and pharmaceutical wastes are removed in this method.
  • Eco-friendly biofertilizers – Engineered microbes are used for fixing atmospheric nitrogen directly into soil. Diazotrophic cyanobacteria and Azolla are used. Soil fertility is increased and runoff pollution by chemical fertilizers are reduced.

Industry

  • Biodegradable plastics (Bioplastics) – High-biomass crops are engineered as living bio-factories. Switchgrass tobacco Camelina sativa and alfalfa are used for producing polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB). These bioplastics are used as biodegradable alternative of petroleum-based plastics.
  • Biofuels and renewable energy – Genetically engineered plants and microalgae are used as renewable biomass feedstocks. Switchgrass and specialized microalgae is used for mass production of cellulosic ethanol biodiesel and other bioenergy sources.
  • Industrial enzymes production – Plants are used as a platform for manufacturing industrial enzymes at large scale. Enzymes like amylases cellulases and proteases are produced. These enzyme is used in biofuel detergent pulp and paper and food processing industries.
  • Recyclable biocatalysts – Industrial enzymes are genetically fused to PHA plastic granules inside plant cells. This is referred to as enzyme-coated particles. These particles are reused repeatedly as scaffold in industrial bioprocessing.
  • Lab-grown wood – Plant stem cells are cultivated in controlled solutions to mimic natural wood formation. Stem cells (from Arabidopsis thaliana) are used. It reduces logging and it is useful for rare or endangered timber species like teak.
  • Sustainable textile dyes – Engineered microbes (bacteria and fungi) are used for producing natural pigments by fermentation. Synthetic dyes are replaced and water pollution from textile industry is reduced.

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