[Frontier Leaders] Taming plastids for biotechnology and synthetic biology

Frontier Leaders Seminar/Plants for Life Talks

Title: Taming plastids for biotechnology and synthetic biology

Speaker: Ralph Bock

Affiliation: Director Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology

Am Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany

http://www.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/10981/Ralph_Bock

Abstract

The plastid (chloroplast) genome represents an attractive target of genetic engineering in crop plants. Plastid transgenes often give very high expression levels, can be conveniently stacked in synthetic operons and are largely excluded from pollen transmission, thus providing increased biosafety of transgenic crops. Recent research has greatly expanded our toolbox for plastid genome engineering and many new proof-of-principle applications have highlighted the enormous potential of the transplastomic technology in crop improvement and for the development of plants as bioreactors for the sustainable and cost-effective production of biopharmaceuticals, enzymes and raw materials for the chemical industry. In my talk, I will describe recent technological advances with plastid transformation in seed plants and summarize progress with harnessing the potential of plastid genetic engineering in plant biotechnology and synthetic biology. Selected applications in three key areas will be discussed: metabolic pathway engineering, resistance engineering, and molecular farming for new pharmaceuticals.