The dominant late twentieth century model of land use segregated agricultural production from areas managed for biodiversity conservation. This module is no longer adequate in much of the world. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment confirmed that agriculture has dramatically increased its ecological footprint. Rural communities depend on key components of biodiversity and ecosystem services that are found in non-domestic habitats. Fortunately, agricultural landscapes can be designed and managed to host wild biodiversity of many types, with neutral or even positive effects on agricultural production and livelihoods. Innovative practitioners, scientists and indigenous land managers are adapting, designing and managing diverse types of ‘ecoagriculture’ landscapes to generate positive co-benefits for production, biodiversity and local people. We assess the potentials and limitations for successful conservation of biodiversity in productive agricultural landscapes, the feasibility of making such approaches financially viable, and the organizational, governance and policy frameworks needed to enable ecoagriculture planning and implementation at a globally significant scale. We conclude that effectively conserving wild biodiversity in agricultural landscapes will require increased research, policy coordination and strategic support to agricultural communities and conservationists.

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Biodiversity conservation and agricultural sustainability: towards a new paradigm of ecoagriculture landscapes

Grapes are grown in semiarid environments, where drought and salinity are common problems. Microarray transcript profiling, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR, and metabolite profiling were used to define genes and metabolic pathways in Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon with shared and divergent responses to a gradually applied and long-term (16 days) water-deficit stress and equivalent salinity stress. In this first-of-a-kind study, distinct differences between water deficit and salinity were revealed. Water deficit caused more rapid and greater inhibition of shoot growth than did salinity at equivalent stem water potentials. One of the earliest responses to water deficit was an increase in the transcript abundance of RuBisCo activase (day 4), but this increase occurred much later in salt-stressed plants (day 12). As water deficit progressed, a greater number of affected transcripts were involved in metabolism, transport, and the biogenesis of cellular components than did salinity. Salinity affected a higher percentage of transcripts involved in transcription, protein synthesis, and protein fate than did water deficit. Metabolite profiling revealed that there were higher concentrations of glucose, malate, and proline in water-deficit-treated plants as compared to salinized plants. The metabolite differences were linked to differences in transcript abundance of many genes involved in energy metabolism and nitrogen assimilation, particularly photosynthesis, gluconeogenesis, and photorespiration. Water-deficit-treated plants appear to have a higher demand than salinized plants to adjust osmotically, detoxify free radicals (reactive oxygen species), and cope with photoinhibition.

Water and salinity stress in grapevines: early and late changes in transcript and metabolite profiles.

Plant cell and organ cultures have emerged as potential sources of secondary metabolites, which are used as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, flavors, fragrances, coloring agents, biopesticides, and food additives. In recent years, various strategies have been developed to assess biomass accumulation and synthesis of secondary compounds in cultures. Biomass accumulation and metabolite biosynthesis are two-stage events, and the parameters that control the growth and multiplication of cultured cells/organs and biomass accumulation are controlled in the first stage. Parameters that assist with the biosynthesis of metabolites are controlled in the second stage. The selection of high-producing cells or organ clones; optimization of medium parameters such as suitable medium, salt, sugar, nitrogen, phosphate, and plant growth regulator levels; and physical factors such as temperature, illumination, light quality, medium pH, agitation, aeration, and environmental gas (e.g., oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene) are controlled in the first stage of the culture process. Elicitation, replenishment of nutrient and precursor feeding, permeabilization, and immobilization strategies assist with the accumulation of metabolites and can be applied in the second stage of the culture process. By following stage-specific strategies, it is possible to produce large amounts of biomass with an increase in the accumulation of secondary compounds.

Production of secondary metabolites from cell and organ cultures: strategies and approaches for biomass improvement and metabolite accumulation

Disposable bioreactors have increasingly been incorporated into preclinical, clinical, and production-scale biotechnological facilities over the last few years. Driven by market needs, and, in particular, by the developers and manufacturers of drugs, vaccines, and further biologicals, there has been a trend toward the use of disposable seed bioreactors as well as production bioreactors. Numerous studies documenting their advantages in use have contributed to further new developments and have resulted in the availability of a multitude of disposable bioreactor types which differ in power input, design, instrumentation, and scale of the cultivation container. In this review, the term “disposable bioreactor” is defined, the benefits and constraints of disposable bioreactors are discussed, and critical phases and milestones in the development of disposable bioreactors are summarized. An overview of the disposable bioreactors that are currently commercially available is provided, and the domination of wave-mixed, orbitally shaken, and, in particular, stirred disposable bioreactors in animal cell-derived productions at cubic meter scale is reported. The growth of this type of reactor system is attributed to the recent availability of stirred disposable benchtop systems such as the Mobius CellReady 3 L Bioreactor. Analysis of the data from computational fluid dynamic simulation studies and first cultivation runs confirms that this novel bioreactor system is a viable alternative to traditional cell culture bioreactors at benchtop scale.

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Disposable bioreactors: the current state-of-the-art and recommended applications in biotechnology.

More than a century has passed since the first attempt to cultivate plant cells in vitro. During this time, plant cell cultures have become increasingly attractive and cost-effective alternatives to classical approaches for the mass production of plant-derived metabolites. Furthermore, plant cell culture is the only economically feasible way of producing some high-value metabolites (e.g., paclitaxel) from rare and/or threatened plants. This review summarizes recent advances in bioprocessing aspects of plant cell cultures, from callus culture to product formation, with particular emphasis on the development of suitable bioreactor configurations (e.g., disposable reactors) for plant cell culture-based processes; the optimization of bioreactor culture environments as a powerful means to improve yields; bioreactor operational modes (fed-batch, continuous, and perfusion); and biomonitoring approaches. Recent trends in downstream processing are also considered.

Bioprocessing of plant cell cultures for mass production of targeted compounds.

Plant Biotechnology - An Emerging Field. Plant-Derived Drugs and Extracts. Industrial Strategies for the Discovery of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Plant Cell and Tissue Culture Techniques Used in Plant Breeding. Plant Cell Cultures as Producers of Secondary Compounds. Genetic Transformation of Plants and Their Cells. Properties and Applications of Hairy Root Cultures. Bioreactors for Plant Cell and Tissue Cultures. The Potential Contribution of Plant Biotechnology to Improving Food Quality. Engineering Plant Biochemical Pathways for Improved Nutritional Quality. Transgenic Plants as Producers of Modified Starch and Other Carobhydrates. Improving the Nutritional Quality and Functional Properties of Seed Proteins by Genetic Engineering. Transgenic Plants as Sources of Modified Oils. Flavors and Fragrances from Plants. Fine Chemicals from Plants. Genetic Engineering of the Plant Cell Factory for Secondary Metabolite Production: Indole Alkaloid Production in Catharanthus roseusas a Model. Transgenic Plants for Production of Immunotherapeutic Agents. Signal Transduction Elements. The Plant Cell Wall - Structural Aspects and Biotechnological Developments. Liginin Genetic Engineering: A Way to Better Understand Lignification beyond Applied Objectives. Transgenic Plants Expressing Tolerance Toward Oxidative Stress. Transgenic Plants with Increased Tolerance against Viral Pathogens. Transgenic Plants with Enhanced Tolerance against Microbial Pathogens. Transgenic Crop Plants with Increased Tolerance to Insect Pests. Transgenic Herbicide Resistant Crops - Advantages, Drawbacks and Failsafes. Plants and Environmental Stress Adaptation Strategies. Molecular Mechanisms that Control Plant Tolerance to Heavy Metals and Possible Roles in Manipulating Metal Accumulation. Index.

Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey

Papers

Plant Biotechnology and Transgenic Plants

Plant Biotechnology—An Emerging Field