Max - Cell Flashcards
Artemisinin (1987)
the active ingredient in the most efficient malaria drug is derived from the plant Artemisia. The demand for effective drugs to treat malaria is high, in 2015 alone there were 212m cases of malaria. Artemisinin is produced in the oil sacs by triomes on the leaves, therefore there is a low concentration of product per plant. The plant is also a weed therefore is hard to cultivate. Therefore, it has been engineered to increase the concentration of artemisinin by altering the biosynthesis pathway, where genes can be expressed in other crops that produce a higher yield (e.g. Tobacco) or in plant cell culture bioreactors.
Paclitaxel:
The English Yew contains paclitaxel a commonly used cancer drug which can be produced in large quantities via cell cultures. The tree that it is originally derived from is endangered, slow growing and the amount of product per tree is very low. It is therefore more efficient to produce the product in plant cell cultures. Phyton biotech currently produce 1/3rd of the global supply of paclitaxel. They use PCF (plant cell fermentation) technology to produce the paclitaxel, no toxic solvents are used and a high yield is obtained. (60g paclitaxel per 1 litre tissue culture).
