NPIF: Photobioreactors for sustainable production of plant-driven biocompounds

NPIF：用于可持续生产植物驱动的生物化合物的光生物反应器

• 批准号: 1948582
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-1948582
• 关键词: NPIF; Photobioreactors; sustainable; production; plant

From papers, fabrics to wood products, plants generate most of the natural materials used in our environment [1]. Plants also supply medicines, dyes, spices, and other specialized chemicals. While biotechnology has blossomed into industrial scale cell culturing for microbial and mammalian systems, plant cells are scarcely used; interestingly, plant-driven products are generated in other organisms via transgenic introduction of plant pathways [2]. Why are plant cells overlooked in industrial biotechnology? According to representatives of major companies in the field, the problem is simply that the tools and protocols are underdeveloped for industrial plant cell biotechnology, such as the suitable bioreactor platforms and the availability of high efficiency cell factories.Plant cells tend toward frail in typical bioreactors developed for microbes and mammalian cells; they are sensitive to the shear stress caused by mechanical mixing of the medium. Furthermore, even though plant cells are autotrophic, they need supply of a high amount of sugar inside traditional bioreactors devoid of light. Ironically, the sugar content increases the risk of microbial contamination and infection. Therefore, bioreactors that allow photosynthesis (i.e. photobioreactors) should be developed for plant cell culturing. The biotechnology company Xanthella has established versatile photobioreactors for culturing diverse algae species [3]. Their systems supply air via tubes and thus do not involve mechanical mixing of the medium, and they come in a wide range of scales. Underdeveloped tools also extend to the selection of plant cell factories; the Nakayama Group at the University of Edinburgh is developing a synthetic biology toolbox to create plant cell factories with enhanced capabilities to produce specific types of biocompounds.This PhD project aims to establish a robust, low-cost, and scalable platform for plant cell culturing and thus plant cell-based industrial biotechnology. Combining the novel Arabidopsis cell factory lines with Xanthella's photobioreactors, we will develop two enabling innovations for plant cell-based industrial biotechnology: the suitable bioreactors and sophisticated toolbox for precision control of the cell activities.

从纸、织物到木制品，我们环境中使用的大部分天然材料都是由植物产生的[1]。植物还供应药品、染料、香料和其他特殊化学品。虽然生物技术已经发展成用于微生物和哺乳动物系统的工业化规模的细胞培养，但植物细胞几乎没有被使用；有趣的是，植物驱动的产物是通过转基因引入植物途径在其他生物中产生的[2]。为什么植物细胞在工业生物技术中被忽视？据该领域的大公司代表介绍，问题很简单，就是工业植物细胞生物技术的工具和协议还不够发达，比如合适的生物反应器平台和高效的细胞工厂。在为微生物和哺乳动物细胞开发的典型生物反应器中，植物细胞容易变得脆弱；它们对介质的机械混合造成的剪应力很敏感。此外，即使植物细胞是自养的，它们也需要在缺乏光线的传统生物反应器内供应大量糖。具有讽刺意味的是，含糖量增加了微生物污染和感染的风险。因此，植物细胞培养应发展光合作用生物反应器(即光生物反应器)。生物技术公司Xanthella已经建立了多功能光生物反应器来培养不同的藻类[3]。它们的系统通过管子提供空气，因此不需要对介质进行机械混合，而且它们的规模很大。不发达的工具也延伸到植物细胞工厂的选择；爱丁堡大学的Nakayama小组正在开发合成生物学工具箱，以创建具有增强能力的植物细胞工厂，以生产特定类型的生物化合物。该博士项目旨在建立一个强大、低成本和可扩展的植物细胞培养平台，从而以植物细胞为基础的工业生物技术。将新型拟南芥细胞生产线与Xanthella的光生物反应器相结合，我们将为基于植物细胞的工业生物技术开发两项使能创新：合适的生物反应器和用于精确控制细胞活动的复杂工具箱。