Plant natural products (PNPs) are the main sources of drugs, food additives, and new biofuels and have become a hotspot in synthetic biology. In the past two decades, the engineered biosynthesis of many PNPs has been achieved through the construction of microbial cell factories. Alongside the rapid development of plant physiology, genetics, and plant genetic modification techniques, hosts have now expanded from single-celled microbes to complex plant systems. Plant synthetic biology is an emerging field that combines engineering principles with plant biology. In this review, we introduce recent advances in the biosynthetic pathway elucidation of PNPs and summarize the progress of engineered PNP biosynthesis in plant cells. Furthermore, a future vision of plant synthetic biology is proposed. Although we are still a long way from overcoming all the bottlenecks in plant synthetic biology, the ascent of this field is expected to provide a huge opportunity for future agriculture and industry.
Keywords: plant natural products; plant synthetic biology; plant transgenic technology.
© 2021 The Authors.