Transgenic plants have been developed since the early 1980s, when
researchers were able to transform a piece of foreign DNA into a plant genome. Since
then, the technology has expanded enormously, giving rise to many private and public
ventures in the field of plant-based recombinant technology. The technology has helped
in crop improvement against various biotic and abiotic stresses such as insect resistance
and herbicide tolerance, as well as improving their nutritional values, for example,
Golden rice. In addition to crop improvement, the technology has enabled plants to be
used as green factories for the production of recombinant proteins. Several platforms
are available for the heterologous expression of foreign proteins, each of which
represents its own set of advantages and limitations. Plants offer many advantages for
inexpensive yet large-scale production of high-value targets, making them extremely
attractive for commercial applications. In this chapter, we briefly discuss the need for
using plants as solar-powered cellular factories to produce recombinant proteins. We
provide a snapshot of different expression systems and argue that the plant-based
expression system is highly commercially feasible not only for the production of highvalue
targets but also to help address global challenges like Covid-19.
Keywords: Biopharming, High-Value targets, Green factories, Plants.
