Plant-Based Expression System

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change, which in recent years has come close to catastrophic levels worldwide, is once again reminding us of the importance of plants. Plants are one of the biggest sources for potential biopharmaceuticals due to their ability to synthesize secondary metabolites. Additionally, plants are considered an attractive alternative production host for heterologous nonplant proteins including antibodies, subunit vaccines, and therapeutic enzymes. Cell culture systems are preferred for the production of secondary metabolites, whereas in the case of molecular farming, transient expression systems using Nicotiana benthamiana are most often used. Plant systems allow large-scale production which has low start-up costs, is safe and free of mammalian viral pathogens, and economical compared to other biological systems.

In this Special Issue, we would like to introduce various expression methods and practical examples for the production of biomaterials using these advantages of plants. Possible topics in this issue range from laboratory research to practical cases related to the expression and production of biomaterials. Moreover, this issue will highlight recent advances that have been achieved in plant-based production platforms in terms of plant species, expression strategies, product yields, and downstream processing development. 

I would like to thank all authors for their contributions to this Special issue.

Dr. Hyun-Soon Kim
Dr. Ki-Beom Moon
Guest Editors

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