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Plant Biotechnology: When Plants Become Molecular Factories

September 30, 2025 by
Plant Biotechnology: When Plants Become Molecular Factories
Lieven Gentaur

Plant biotechnology has transformed the way biological molecules used in medicine, pharmaceuticals, and industry are produced. Plants are no longer just a source of food or ornamental plants, but have become factories for producing proteins, antibodies, and enzymes that can sustainably and economically generate complex biological molecules.

How do plants produce biomolecules?

With modern genetics and cell culture techniques, genes encoding therapeutic proteins can be introduced directly into plants, and the plants will produce those proteins as part of their natural metabolism.



Real-life example:

  • Vaccine production: Some plants can produce antigens to stimulate immunity without using animals.

  • Monoclonal antibodies: Plants such as tobacco or rice can produce human antibodies to treat cancer or autoimmune diseases.

  • Industrial enzymes: Enzymes for biological or agricultural industrial applications can be produced using plant cells at a lower cost.

Key steps of plant biotechnology

  1. Specify the gene of interest: Choose the protein or enzyme you want to produce

  2. Gene insertion: Using vectors (Agrobacterium, plasmid) to introduce genes into plants

  3. Plant cell and tissue culture: multiplying genetically modified cells in a controlled environment

  4. Extraction and purification: removing other substances and isolating the desired molecules for use in medicine or industry.

  5. Scientific Evaluation: Testing Purity, Biological Activity, and Safety

Why is plant biotechnology considered an innovation? Read more

  • Sustainability: Reducing the use of chemicals or animal farming

  • Economical: Producing in large quantities has a lower cost than the traditional method.

  • Safety: Reducing the risk of infection caused by animal systems

  • Innovation: Able to produce molecules that cannot be obtained by other methods

Tools and materials from BioImagene for your research

At BioImagene, we provide complete materials and experiment kits for plant biotechnology projects:

  • High-quality plant cell culture media

  • Protein and enzyme extraction and purification kit

  • Vectors and plasmids for genetic transformation

  • Equipment and consumables for tissue culture and molecular analysis

💡 Tips for the laboratory: Combining our materials expertise with your plant cultivation projects will help you produce biomolecules quickly, safely, and easily scalable.

Summary

Plant biotechnology is no longer just a concept of the future; it has become the heart of sustainable drug research and production. By combining science and innovation, plants have become key partners in creating effective and environmentally friendly treatments and industrial solutions.

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