How do plants act as bioreactors?

It involves the genetic modification of the host plant through the insertion and expression of new genes. The products that are currently being produced in plants include bioactive peptides, vaccine antigens, antibodies, diagnostic proteins, nutritional supplements, enzymes and biodegradable plastics.

Why plants are the most viable organism to use as bioreactors?

The use of plant systems as bioreactors is steadily gaining more significance in modern biotechnology. The advantages of plants compared to the conventional bioreactors—microorganisms and animal cell cultures—are product safety and lower production costs.

What are the disadvantages encountered while using plants as bioreactors?

Transgenic plants and seeds as bioreactors may also possess some disadvantages, including the risk of contamination from field-grown environments, high cost of Page 7 Plant bioreactors for pharmaceuticals 369 downstream processing and purification of recombinant proteins.

What is plant cell bioreactor?

Bioreactors are a vessel or device in which biological reaction takes place and they maintain a sustainable environment for cell growth or product formation. Plant cell culture bioreactors are different from microbial fermenters because of the differences in cellular properties of plants and microbes.

What are transgenic plants?

Transgenic plants are the ones, whose DNA is modified using genetic engineering techniques. A transgenic plant contains a gene or genes that have been artificially inserted. The inserted gene sequence is known as the transgene, it may come from an unrelated plant or from a completely different species.

What is the purpose of a bioreactor?

The main function of a properly designed bioreactor is to provide a controlled environment to achieve optimal growth and/or product formation in the particular cell system employed.

What is gene farming?

Pharming, the generation of pharmaceuticals using animals or plants that have been genetically engineered. Pharming is a useful alternative to traditional pharmaceutical development because genetically engineered livestock and plants are relatively inexpensive to produce and maintain.

What are the types of bioreactors?

The six types are: (1) Continuous Stirred Tank Bioreactors (2) Bubble Column Bioreactors (3) Airlift Bioreactors (4) Fluidized Bed Bioreactors (5) Packed Bed Bioreactors and (6) Photo-Bioreactors.

How do you culture a plant cell?

Tissue culture involves the use of small pieces of plant tissue (explants) which are cultured in a nutrient medium under sterile conditions. Using the appropriate growing conditions for each explant type, plants can be induced to rapidly produce new shoots, and, with the addition of suitable hormones new roots.

What are the advantages of transgenic plant?

The purpose of inserting a combination of genes in a plant, is to make it as useful and productive as possible. This process provides advantages like improving shelf life, higher yield, improved quality, pest resistance, tolerant to heat, cold and drought resistance, against a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses.

What are transgenic plants give examples?

Explanation: Examples of transgenic plants: (i) Bt cotton (ii) Flavr savr tomato and (iii) Golden rice. (i) Bt Cotton : Bt cotton is a transgenic plant. Bt toxin gene has been cloned and introduced in many plants to provide resistance to insects without the need of insecticides.

What are bioreactors give an example?

An example of a continuous bioreactor is the chemostat. Organisms growing in bioreactors may be submerged in liquid medium or may be attached to the surface of a solid medium. Large scale immobilized cell bioreactors are: moving media, also known as moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR)

What are the advantages of using a bioreactor?

Potential advantages of bioreactors include: Decomposition and biological stabilization in years vs. decades in “dry tombs”. Lower waste toxicity and mobility due to both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Reduced leachate disposal costs. A 15 to 30 percent gain in landfill space due to an increase in density of waste mass.

How are stirred and aerated bioreactors used in industry?

3. Stirred and aerated systems: about 20% of the bioreactors in industrial operation. Non-stirred, aerated vessels are used in the process for traditional products such as wine, beer and cheese production. Most of the newly found bioprocesses require microbial growth in an aerated and agitated system.

What are the advantages of bioreactors over dry tombs?

Potential advantages of bioreactors include: Decomposition and biological stabilization in years vs. decades in “dry tombs”. Lower waste toxicity and mobility due to both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Reduced leachate disposal costs.

Why are bioreactor landfills better than traditional landfills?

The net result appears to be that the bioreactor produces more LFG overall than the traditional landfill does. Some studies indicate that the bioreactor increases the feasibility for cost effective LFG recovery, which in turn would reduce fugitive emissions.