Advances in Molecular Farming in Plants

Dear Colleagues,

Plant molecular farming is a rapidly evolving branch of plant biotechnology that explores the use of plants, algae, and photosynthetic microbes engineered to produce bioactive metabolites, recombinant pharmaceuticals, and industrial proteins in large quantities. Molecular farming involves the manipulation of cellular metabolism to optimize the production of commercially valuable biologicals (small molecules, proteins, enzymes, and complexes) with therapeutic potential in humans. Among the key targets are human proteins (including antibodies) because the use of such materials isolated from natural sources risks contamination with disease agents (e.g., viruses, mycoplasms, and prions) that are absent from plants. Plant molecular farming also permits a more cost-effective and readily adaptable strategy for biological production, particularly in a low-resource setting.

In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight current approaches, next-generation technologies, and the integration of advanced chemical engineering and materials science to improve the production and delivery of enhanced products. While innovative and focused reviews are welcome, we are mainly seeking primary research articles, systems-to-products reports that analyze and direct the field, and reports on novel technologies or applications.

Prof. Dr. Michael Timko
Dr. Hongbo Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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