New opportunities for the regulation of secondary metabolism in plants: focus on microRNAs

• Published in: Biotechnology Letters Vol. 37; no. 9; pp. 1719 - 1727
• Main Authors: Bulgakov, Victor P, Avramenko, Tatiana V
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Activation; active ingredients; Applied Microbiology; Balancing; biochemical pathways; Biochemistry; Bioengineering; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Botany; Cell culture; Control; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; industrial applications; Life Sciences; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microbiology; microRNA; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - metabolism; Pathways; Plants (organisms); Plants - genetics; Plants - metabolism; Review; Ribonucleic acids; RNA, Plant - genetics; RNA, Plant - metabolism; Secondary Metabolism; Secondary metabolites; Bioengineering; miRNA; Regulation; Secondary metabolism; Small RNAs; Plant cell culture
• ISSN: 0141-5492; 1573-6776
• DOI: 10.1007/s10529-015-1863-8

Plant cell cultures are of particular interest in industrial applications as a source of biologically active substances. It is difficult, however, to achieve stable production of secondary metabolites for many plant cell cultures using classical techniques. Novel approaches should be developed for removal of the inhibitor blocks that prevent pathway activation and shift the regulatory balance to the activation of entire biosynthetic pathways. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNAs that play important regulatory roles in various biological processes. Only recently miRNAs have been demonstrated as active in secondary metabolism regulation. In this work, we summarize recent data on the emerging approaches based on regulation of secondary metabolism by miRNAs.