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Biosynthesis and Biotransformation

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Transgenic Crop Plants
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Abstract

Plant secondary metabolites, the so-called natural products, are used as flavors, food additives, and pharmaceuticals. Since complex natural products are not economically produced by total chemical synthesis except for some small molecules, most of the useful metabolites are still obtained from wild or cultivated plant resources. Alternatively, plant cell culture technique would be a potential method to produce these useful secondary metabolites, and commercial production of some useful secondary metabolites has been achieved (Kolewe et al. 2008; Smetanska 2008). Furthermore, biotransformation by plant cell cultures could be a useful method to convert natural products or unnatural synthetic products into chemically different products of economical importance. This chapter will focus on biosynthesis and biotransformation of useful chemical compounds using plant cell culture technology.

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Mizukami, H., Hayashi, H. (2010). Biosynthesis and Biotransformation. In: Kole, C., Michler, C.H., Abbott, A.G., Hall, T.C. (eds) Transgenic Crop Plants. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04809-8_9

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