Research shows how plants could be the best way to produce complex carbohydrates that have multiple applications
The Science: Plants have the natural ability to produce complex carbohydrates. Their built-in metabolic capabilities, and their ability to be grown at large agricultural scales, suggest they could be a good platform for producing complex carbohydrates at industrial scales. Researchers tested plants’ ability to produce complex carbohydrates, such as human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). HMOs are currently commercially produced through microbial fermentation, but this method is unable to generate a wide range of HMOs. HMOs made in plants could be used as a prebiotic supplement for adults and infants. By leveraging plants’ innate abilities, researchers produced a broad range of HMOs in plants.
The Impact: Researchers produced all three classes of HMOs within plants. This included some HMOs that aren’t currently possible to make through current microbial fermentation platforms. Plants use carbon dioxide to create these compounds, which makes the production process more sustainable. Plants can also make HMOs at large scales for lower costs than microbial platforms. This research demonstrates how plants can provide a cost-effective, sustainable, and scalable option for producing HMOs. This biological platform could produce a wide variety of HMOs that could be used in food products or potentially in other applications.
Summary: Researchers engineered bacterial HMO biosynthetic enzymes into plants for the production of all three classes of HMOs. They expressed these pathways in the plant N. benthamiana, which resulted in the production of various complex HMOs. The researchers optimized the production of certain HMOs by overexpressing certain biosynthetic pathways. They were able to produce a wide range of HMOs by introducing several genes, demonstrating plants’ ability to generate complex sugars. The researchers’ technoeconomic analysis showed that HMO production in crops could be cheaper than producing them through microbial platforms alone. Additionally, plants can make HMOs that researchers haven’t been able to access through microbial production routes. It’s possible that this could lead to new discoveries and applications of HMOs and other tailored complex carbohydrates for a wide range of applications.
Publication: Barnum, C.R., Paviani, B., Couture, G. et al. Engineered plants provide a photosynthetic platform for the production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides. Nature Food (2024). [DOI: 10.1038/s43016-024-00996-x]
Written by Emily Nelson