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In Vitro Production of Phytosterols

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Nutraceuticals Production from Plant Cell Factory

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Abstract

Phytosterols are plant-derived metabolites which are present in edible and nonedible plants and proven to have many health promoting effects. β-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol are the major phytosterols present in plants. The positive impact on the health came from their ability to reduce plasma cholesterol levels and anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anticancer activities. The beneficial effects of these phytotherapeutic molecules create market need for pharmaceutical and enriched food products based on phytosterols. However, phytosterols production is encountered by many difficulties, since phytosterols levels produced by plants are low and the chemical synthesis offered no actual solution for commercial production, neither practically nor economically. In vitro culture production of phytosterols is an alternative technique with bright future for these biomolecules which includes many successful strategies such as elicitation and metabolic engineering through DNA technologies for overexpression of phytosterols. Phytosterols production by this technique needs to have knowledge with genes and enzymes involved in phytosterols biosynthesis pathway, and the more knowledge you have, the more successful production you get.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University (Boys), Cairo, Egypt

    Mostafa M. Hegazy

  2. Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Wahidah H. Al-Qahtani

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  1. Mostafa M. Hegazy
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  2. Wahidah H. Al-Qahtani
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Correspondence to Mostafa M. Hegazy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Tarun Belwal

  2. Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Milen I. Georgiev

  3. Agricultural Biotechnology, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia

    Jameel M Al-Khayri

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Hegazy, M.M., Al-Qahtani, W.H. (2022). In Vitro Production of Phytosterols. In: Belwal, T., Georgiev, M.I., Al-Khayri, J.M. (eds) Nutraceuticals Production from Plant Cell Factory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8858-4_13

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