Plant cell proliferation inside an inorganic host;

MERCEDES PERULLINI; MARÍA MERCEDES RIVERO; MATÍAS JOBBÁGY; ALEJANDRO MENTABERRY; SARA A. BILMES

JOURNAL OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2007 vol. 127 p. 542 - 548

0168-1656

In recent years, much attention has been paid to plant cell culture as a tool for the production of secondary metabolites and theexpression of recombinant proteins. Plant cell immobilization offers many advantages for biotechnological processes. However,the most extended matrices employed, such as calcium-alginate, cannot fully protect entrapped cells. Sol–gel chemistry ofsilicates has emerged as an outstanding strategy to obtain biomaterials in which living cells are truly protected. This field ofresearch is rapidly developing and a large number of bacteria and yeast-entrapping ceramics have already been designed fordifferent applications. But even mild thermal and chemical conditions employed in sol–gel synthesis may result harmful tocells of higher organisms. Here we present a method for the immobilization of plant cells that allows cell growth at cavitiescreated inside a silica matrix. Plant cell proliferation was monitored for a 6-month period, at the end of which plant calli of morethan 1mm in diameter were observed inside the inorganic host. The resulting hybrid device had good mechanical stability andproved to be an effective barrier against biological contamination, suggesting that it could be employed for long-term plant cellentrapment applications.