Betalains are water-soluble plant pigments that are widely used as food colorants, and have a wide range of desirable biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, anti-cancer properties. They can be produced from various plants, notably beetroot, but betalain products obtained in this way also have some undesirable properties and are difficult to standardize. A potentially attractive alternative is to use hairy root cultures. In the study reported here, we found that betalain extracts obtained from hairy root cultures of the red beetroot B. vulgaris cv. Detroit Dark Red also had higher antioxidant activity than extracts obtained from mature beetroots: six-fold higher 2,2-dyphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging ability (90.7% inhibition, EC(50) = 0.11 mg, vs 14.2% inhibition, EC(50) = 0.70 mg) and 3.28-fold higher oxygen radical absorbance capacity (4,100 microM TE/g dry extract, vs 1,250 microM TE/g dry extract). The high antioxidant activity of the hairy root extracts was associated with increased concentrations (more than 20-fold) of total phenolic concomitant compounds, which may have synergistic effects with betalains. The presence of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, caffeic acid, catechin hydrate, and epicatechin were detected in both types of extract, but at different concentrations. Rutin was only present at high concentration (1.096 mg.g(-1) dry extract) in betalain extracts from the hairy root cultures, whereas chlorogenic acid was only detected at measurable concentrations in extracts from intact plants.

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.

Embedding of mammalian cells into hydrogel scaffolds of predesigned architecture by rapid prototyping technologies has been intensively investigated with focus on tissue engineering and organ printing. The study demonstrates that such methods can be extended to cells originating from the plant kingdom. By using 3D plotting, microalgae of the species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were embedded in 3D alginate‐based scaffolds. The algae survived the plotting process and were able to grow within the hydrogel matrix. Under illumination, the cell number increased as indicated by microscopic analyses and determination of the chlorophyll content which increased 16‐fold within 12 days of cultivation. Photosynthetic activity was evidenced by measurement of oxygen release: within the first 24 h, an oxygen production rate of 0.05 mg L−1 h−1 was detected which rapidly increased during further cultivation (0.25 mg L−1 h−1 between 24 and 48 h). Furthermore, multichannel plotting was applied to combine human cells and microalgae within one scaffold in a spatially organized manner and hence, to establish a patterned coculture system in which the algae are cultivated in close vicinity to human cells. This might encourage the development of new therapeutic concepts based on the delivery of oxygen or secondary metabolites as therapeutic agents by microalgae.

Biotechnological processes using photosynthetic microorganisms are of growing industrial interest for the production of renewable energies, platform chemicals or pharmaceutical drugs. Microalgae can be cultivated in suspension, or immobilized by active or passive approaches. We analyzed microalgae growth and population dynamics at different temperatures and illumination conditions in suspension and immobilized in 3D-plotted hydrogels. For microbial processes, the viability of the organisms is essential as productivity depends directly on the number of active catalytic units. Therefore it is important to understand how cultivation conditions influence the population viability. We found that even under non-optimal temperatures, the number of viable microalgae was directly influenced by length of exposure to light for both suspension and immobilized cultures. The cultivation of microalgae in 3D-plotted hydrogels, a highly organized immobilization technique, affords new fields of applications, e.g. the co-cultivation of different microorganisms in close vicinity but without direct contact.www.els-journal.com Page 3 Engineering in Life SciencesThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. AbstractIn this study, microalgae were cultivated in the form of suspension cultures using a new structurally organized immobilization technique called "Green Bioprinting". This technique allows the co-cultivation of different microorganisms in close vicinity to, but without direct contact with microalgae. The goal is to improve the oxygen supply of different cell types by photosynthetic oxygen evolution. However, more information on the optimum culture conditions for different microalgae is necessary. Therefore, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii 11.32b and Chlorella sorokiniana UTEX1230 were suspended in culture medium or embedded in hydrogels by the 3D-bioprinting process followed by cultivation under different temperatures (26 °C, 30 °C or 37 °C) and modes of illumination (continuous illumination or a 14/10 hours light/dark cycle). Concluding, the 3D-bioprinting immobilization represents a technique to cultivate microalgae at a high viability and growth rate even under non-optimal temperature conditions.

Mass production of value-added molecules (including native and heterologous therapeutic proteins and enzymes) by plant cell culture has been demonstrated as an efficient alternative to classical technologies [i.e. natural harvest and chemical (semi)synthesis]. Numerous proof-of-concept studies have demonstrated the feasibility of scaling up plant cell culture-based processes (most notably to produce paclitaxel) and several commercial processes have been established so far. The choice of a suitable bioreactor design (or modification of an existing commercially available reactor) and the optimization of its internal environment have been proven as powerful tools toward successful mass production of desired molecules. This review highlights recent progress (mostly in the last 5 years) in hardware configuration and optimization of bioreactor culture conditions for suspended plant cells.