Plants as Chemical Factories

This chapter reviews plants as chemical factories. We obtain a vast array of chemicals such as flavours, fragrances, and drugs from plants that are products of their metabolism. Plant metabolism can be classified as primary or secondary. The products of primary metabolism are crucial for the life processes, while those of secondary metabolism mostly help in environmental adaptation and survival. There are tens of thousands of secondary metabolites, which can be broadly classified based on their chemical structures into terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenolics. The chapter then looks at the practice of culturing plant cells in vitro, plant metabolic engineering, and microalgal cultures. Co-production of valuable chemicals like secondary plant metabolites is essential to the commercial success of microalgal cultures as a source of biofuel.