Production and genetic engineering of terpenoids production in plant cell and organ cultures

Abstract

Among the three main groups of secondary metabolites that can be found in plants, terpenes are by far the largest and most diverse. They play an important role in plants in both primary and secondary metabolism and constitute a source of phytochemicals for human health. Plant biotechnology, based on in vitro culture and genetic engineering techniques, has proved to be a promising tool to increase the production of these bioactive compounds. This chapter describes the plant cell and organ culture techniques used in plant biotechnology, the biotechnological production of the different groups of terpenes using empirical approaches and some examples of genetic and metabolic engineering techniques applied to improve the production of these valuable plant secondary metabolites in plant cell and organ cultures.