Separating and recovering components from plants

Details Separating and recovering components from plants Separating and recovering components from plants

2001-09-17

2004-05-25

Tate, Christopher R. (Department: 1654)

Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions

Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution...

C424S773000, C426S481000, C426S489000, C426S495000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06740342

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the separation and recovery of components from plants.
Plants, like most organisms, are made up of cells. A plant cell consists of a lipid membrane with a generally aqueous content, the cytosol, which contains the various cell organelles (likewise surrounded by lipid membranes), such as nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and chloroplasts, and the cytoskeleton, made up of microfilaments and microtubules, which gives the cell an inner structure. Also present in the plant cell are vacuoles which play an important role in keeping the plant cell under tension; the vacuoles maintain the turgor of the cell.
The constituent components of a plant cell can be roughly distinguished into water, which accounts for the greater part by far of a living cell, components such as salts, (precursors of) lipids, carbohydrates, amino acids and nucleotides, macromolecules such as starches, proteins and nucleic acid and a multiplicity of other molecules, including vitamins and pigments such as chlorophyll, carotene and xanthophyll.
A plant cell is generally surrounded by a cell wall which provides firmness and structure to the plant tissue. The cell wall is mainly built up from (hemi)cellulose and other carbohydrate polymers, which have aggregated to fiber bundles. Woody plants further contain an ample amount of lignin, a polymer made up of phenols and other aromatic monomers.
Plant tissue is made up of plant cells, all of which, when living, basically satisfy the above description. An important distinction can be made between relatively firm tissues which comprise virtually no chloroplast or other plastid containing cells, and the relatively soft tissues which generally do. Tissues which generally comprise no chloroplast containing cells are, for instance, the epidermis or skin tissue of a plant, the collenchyma and sclerenchyma or stroma of a plant and the vascular fiber bundles or the vascular tissue, comprising the important transport vessels (wood vessels and sieve tubes) in the plant. When a part of a plant is strongly lignified, in general, over time, the majority of the cells in the lignified part die off and only residues of the cell content are left. In particular the cytosol and the organelles present therein are lost, but the vascular fiber bundles, skin and stromas generally give the plant form and structure and generally remain present when the plant is dead. Characteristically, these relatively firm tissues (in particular vascular bundles, sclerenchyma and epidermis) comprise no to virtually no chloroplast containing cells, while an important part (at least in the aerial leaf and stem parts of the plant) of the relatively soft tissues, also called chlorenchyma, is made up chiefly of only chloroplast-containing parenchymal cells; indeed, this is where photosynthesis occurs. Non chloroplast containing parenchyma (such as can be found, for instance, in fruits, seeds, roots and tubers of the plant, but also in the underground leaf and/or stem parts) is mainly involved in the storage of nutrients, water or gases. Such storage occurs in particular in cell organelles related to the chloroplasts, generally referred to as (pro)plastids, as in amyloplasts (storage and production of carbohydrates), elaioplasts (lipids) and chromoplasts (pigments).
Genetic manipulation or modification of plants is the alteration of transferable properties or characteristics of a plant through modern recombinant or biotechnological techniques. The technique of genetic manipulation was developed in plants at an experimental level in the mid-eighties. In the early nineties, this led to the first ready-for-trade products. At present, the technique is mainly applied to bacteria, fungi and plants. In animals too, however, there are possibilities. The techniques in animals at this junction are not yet optimal or non-profitable, and entail problems in the field of ethics where higher developed animals are concerned.
Transferable properties are more-or-less simple properties, encoded by a gene for a particular locus. A genetically modified plant (or transgenic plant) is a living organism to which a gene with particular properties, which has been identified in a donor organism, is transferred through genetic manipulation techniques (DNA recombination). It is also possible to genetically modify a plant, such that it can no longer activate or express a particular gene traditionally present in that plant: the gene in question is then eliminated. Due to the transferred or eliminated gene, the transgenic or modified plant acquires a new property or other characteristic, in their turn transferable to the offspring. The transfer or elimination of genes can be carried out by using, for instance, a bacterium such as
Agrobacterium tumefaciens
, which is capable of transferring genetic material to a plant cell by means of plasmids. The genes are subsequently incorporated into the genome of the infected cell. Other ways of modification can be chosen, such as bombarding a plant cell with balls enveloped with DNA fragments which include the gene to be transferred.
The use of modern biotechnology in agriculture offers new possibilities whereby, at first sight, certain yields are guaranteed and fewer phytosanitary products need to be deployed in pest and disease control, and also qualitatively high-grade products are obtained. Estimates from 1998 show that transgenic plants are grown worldwide on an area of 30 million hectares (compared to 14 million hectares in 1997). This is done mainly in the United States (88%), South America (cotton in Argentina) (6%) and Japan (6%). Figures on the area in China on which transgenic crops are grown are not known, but the percentage involved is probably considerable.
In addition to the currently marketed varieties improved by genetic manipulation—some twelve food and non-food crops—there is a rapid and gigantic progress to be expected in research in this field, even though the majority of the applications are now still in the experimental stage. Possible improvements are of major importance, in particular in the cultivation of food crops. In addition, there is the expected development of genetically modified plants for products in the non-food sector, which are a very interesting source of diversification for agriculture.
In principle, two types of genetic modifications are conceivable. A first type concerns the introduction of new properties or characteristics which promote or are helpful in the growth or cultivation of the crop in question. To be considered here are, for instance, the introduction of drought or cold resistance, so that the crop can also be grown in regions other than those where it originally thrived. The introduction of new properties or characteristics which promote or are helpful in the growth or cultivation of the crop in question also encompasses the introduction of resistance to or tolerance of herbicides, so that weed control with the herbicide in question can be carried out around the crop without the modified or recombinant crop thereby sustaining appreciable damage, or the introduction of resistance to diseases or pests.
A second type concerns the introduction or elimination of genes which enables the crop in question to yield a potentially higher-grade (recombinant) end product. To be considered here are, for instance, taste improvement or better keeping properties of products. However, a more important application is to increase or enrich the plant with valuable components or content substances. Increasing the vitamin content of a plant through genetic modification; increasing and/or enriching the protein or amino acid content, whereby the plant preferentially produces high-grade proteins or amino acids through genetic modification; improving the balance between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids through genetic modification are all examples of envisaged possibilities of genetic modification in plants.
Also envisaged are new production possibilities for highly specific compositions. In particular the produ

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