sustainable-manufacturing
Sustainable manufacturing in plant science encompasses environmentally responsible methods for producing plant-derived products, whether through traditional agricultural approaches or biotechnological processes such as synthetic biology and plant engineering. This concept is significant because many pharmaceutical, chemical, and material products traditionally derived from petrochemicals or resource-intensive processes can be more sustainably produced using plants as living biofactories. By integrating sustainable manufacturing practices, researchers address the urgent need to reduce industrial environmental impact while simultaneously developing scalable, renewable alternatives to conventional production systems.
PubMed · 2026-03-25
Scientists are learning to engineer plants to produce useful compounds like sugars and medicines more sustainably than current factory methods. This review explores the progress and potential of using plants as living biofactories for large-scale commercial production.
Plant systems combine photosynthetic carbon fixation with native saccharide biosynthesis, creating sustainable and potentially large-scale production advantages
Plant chassis represent a promising alternative to traditional microbial hosts for synthetic saccharide synthesis
Multiple technologies exist for plant-based saccharide production across various structural forms, though optimization strategies remain a key technical challenge