Recent applications of plant cell culture technology in cosmetics and foods

Abstract

Plants have been used as the main source of phytochemicals with nutritional, medicinal, cultural and cosmetic applications since times immemorial. Nowadays, achieving sustainable development, global climate change, restricted access to fresh water, limited food supply and growing energy demands are among the critical global challenges faced by humanity. Plant cell culture technology has the potential to address some of these challenges by providing effective tools for sustainable supply of phyto‐ingredients with reduced energy, carbon and water footprints. The main aim of this review is to discuss the recent trends in the development of plant cell culture technologies for production of plant‐derived substances with application in food products and cosmetic formulations. The specific technological steps and requirements for the final products are discussed in the light of the advances in cultivation technologies used for growing differentiated and undifferentiated plant in vitro systems. Future prospects and existing challenges of the commercialization of plant cell culture‐derived products have been outlined through the prism of the authors’ point of view. We expect this review will encourage scientists, policymakers and business enterprises to join efforts for speeding‐up the mass commercialization and popularization of plant cell culture technology as an eco‐friendly alternative method for sustainable production of plant‐derived additives with application in food and cosmetic products.

Methyl Jasmonate Effect on Betulinic Acid Content and Biological Properties of Extract from Senna obtusifolia Transgenic Hairy Roots

“…Additionally, by manipulating metabolic pathways (introducing new genes or silencing selected ones), it is possible to create efficient plant-based production systems. Plant cells or tissue cultures obtained in this way can be transferred to bioreactors, allowing them to be cultivated on a larger scale, which can directly lead to a further increase in productivity and even their use on an industrial scale [ 33 , 34 ]. The entire set of factors described above makes it possible to develop highly efficient plant culture systems, the metabolites of which can be used in the pharmaceutical and medical industries [ 35 , 36 ].…”

Synthetic biology of plant natural products: From pathway elucidation to engineered biosynthesis in plant cells

“…Metabolic engineering of a suspension cell system is expected to be an efficient approach for PNP production in the future. Plant cell culture technology has been widely used for industrial production of active cosmetic ingredients and food additives, such as the novel authorized food ingredients TEUPOL (10P or 50P), ECHINAN 4P, and ACTEOS 10P and the skin care ingredients PhytoCellTec Symphytum and PhytoCellTec nunatak ( Georgiev et al., 2018 ; Krasteva et al., 2021 ). Some other emerging technologies, such as plant living-root exudation technology–plant milking ( https://www.plantadvanced.com/expertises-2/pat-plant-milking ), also promote the development of plant cells for PNP biosynthesis.…”

Specialized Metabolites and Valuable Molecules in Crop and Medicinal Plants: The Evolution of Their Use and Strategies for Their Production

“…The most important advantage in the use of plant cell cultures is that the biosynthetic pathway for a complex metabolite is already present in the cell and there is no need for it to be re-constructed by using synthetic biology approaches. Indeed, the employment of plant cell culture at the industrial scale is continuing to increase, especially for pharmaceuticals and food supplements [ 87 , 88 , 89 ]. Examples of the actual use of phytochemicals as pharmaceuticals, food additives and cosmetic ingredients, produced trough plant cell cultures, are reported in Table 2 .…”