Michael A. Henson Group

Plant cell culture is an alternative production technology for complex natural products that cannot be chemically synthesized or extracted in high yields from native sources. Suspension cultures consisting of undifferentiated plant cells are attractive industrially, especially compared to other types of plant cell culture such as differentiated cultures and transfected hairy root cultures, due to their relative similarity to microbial cell culture systems. A unique characteristic of plant cell cultures is the tendency of the cells to grow as multicellular aggregates. The effect of aggregate size on metabolic activity has been studied extensively, but no definitive trend regarding secondary metabolite production has emerged across species and cell culture systems. Aggregate size has been shown to affect culture growth rates and rheological properties of the culture broth.

Plant cell culture is an alternative production technology for complex natural products that cannot be chemically synthesized or extracted in high yields from native sources. Suspension cultures consisting of undifferentiated plant cells are attractive industrially, especially compared to other types of plant cell culture such as differentiated cultures and transfected hairy root cultures, due to their relative similarity to microbial cell culture systems. A unique characteristic of plant cell cultures is the tendency of the cells to grow as multicellular aggregates. The effect of aggregate size on metabolic activity has been studied extensively, but no definitive trend regarding secondary metabolite production has emerged across species and cell culture systems. Aggregate size has been shown to affect culture growth rates and rheological properties of the culture broth.

Funding: National Science Foundation

Student: Lisa Leone (2nd year Ph.D. student), Alec Gramann (undergraduate student)

Collaborator: Susan Roberts (UMass)

Publications and Recent Presentations:

1. Kolewe, M. E., M. A. Henson and S. C. Roberts, "Characterization of Aggregate Size in Taxus Suspension Cell Culture," Plant Cell Reports, 5, 485-494 (2010). [PDF]
2. Kolewe, M. E., M. A. Henson and S. C. Roberts, "Analysis of Aggregate Size as a Process Variable Affecting Paclitaxel Accumulation in Taxus Suspension Cultures," Biotechnology Progress, accepted for publication.