Molecular farming: Prospects and limitation

Abstract

Plant molecular farming is the production of recombinant pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical proteins of commercial importance utilizing plants as bioreactors. Research and development on plant-derived recombinant proteins have gained momentum in recent years. Advantages of employing plants as bioreactors for recombinant protein generation are many including low cost of production, easier scale-up, cost-effective storage, and absence of animal pathogens in protein preparations. This article reviews the various technologies developed for employing plants as bioreactors, different plant systems being used as expression host, and limitations and research advances to overcome these limitations. An overview of different plant-derived products whether currently in market or are in different stages of development, including phases of clinical trials, is described. Special emphasis has been given on banana being used as an expression host, advantages and limitations of using banana in plant molecular farming, and different approaches which can be utilized to overcome those limitations have been described.