Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
7
The “Pharming” Challenge
Armin Spok
Introduction
Since the mid-1990s, an increasing number of research papers have
described the production of substances of industrial interest from geneti-
cally modified (GM) plants, also referred to as “molecular farming.”
1
As
a fundamental difference to present-day industrial crops, most of these
substances are not naturally occurring in these plants. The majority of
R&D activities have so far focused on high-value proteins and especially
on biopharmaceuticals (plant-made pharmaceuticals or PMPs) such as
vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic enzymes, hormones, and
interferon.
2
Furthermore, plants are used for the production of enzymes
and other substances such as fatty acids, bioplastics, spider silk, and gela-
tine (plant-made industrials or PMIs) that can be used in various indus-
trial sectors.
3
1
Some authors are using the terms pharming or biopharming. Pharming also refers to
the production of pharmaceuticals in animals. The term “molecular farming” is used in
this chapter to specifically refer to crops and to include nonpharmaceutical products.
2
J. K. Ma et al., Plant Derived Pharmaceuticals - the Road Forward, 10
Trends in Plant
Science
580-585 (2005).
3
F. Arcand & P. G. Arnison, Development of Novel Protein-Production Systems and
Economic Opportunities & Regulatory Challenges for Canada (2004) available at
http://archives.cpmp2005.org/pdf/NPPS 040412.pdf.; E. E. Hood et al., Criteria for
High-level Expression of a Fungal Laccase Gene in Transgenic Maize. 1
Plant Biotech-
nology Journal
129-140 (2003); K. Neumann et al., Production of Cyanophycin, A
Suitable Source for the Biodegradable Polymer Polyaspartate, in Transgenic Plants.
3
Plant Biotechnology Journal
249-258 (2005); J. Scheller & U. Conrad, Plant-based
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