Why are plant cells considered a promising basis for the production of valuable molecules?
Plants produce a vast number of complex molecules as part of their metabolic processes and many of these molecules make useful drugs. Indeed, almost a quarter of all drugs contain active ingredients derived from plants, since the complex molecules are difficult or impossible to synthesize chemically. Unfortunately, most plants in their natural habitats produce tiny amounts of these molecules making extraction difficult and expensive, and risking their over-exploitation.
