SoluCel’s technology platform aims at providing the necessary tools (plant cell cultures, elicitation methods and genes) for sustainable production of plant secondary metabolites  and for generating novel product candidates.

SoluCel has successfully established cell and tissue cultures (protoplasts, cell suspensions, hairy roots and shoots) from a variety of plant species, including many medicinal plant species. Specific elicitation methods (physical or chemical treatments) are available to increase the level of a compound of interest in such cultures.

For the identification of genes involved in the biosynthesis of a compound of interest, plant materials differing in the level of such a compound are needed. Elicited and non-elicited cultures can be used, but also varieties grown under identical conditions differing in the level of the compound of interest can provide good starting materials. SoluCel is unique in its integrated approach to elucidate plant secondary metabolite pathways. Profiling of metabolites and expressed genes is carried out concomitantly. In-house developed biocomputing tools enable the integration of these data into gene- metabolite networks that reveal regulatory and biosynthetic pathways for the target compounds at metabolite and gene levels and that allow prioritization of genes for the intended application. Gene function is assessed by expression in an appropriate host.

Based on the analysis of secondary metabolite pathways so far, SoluCel has established a one-of-a-kind gene collection from medicinal plants such as Artemisia annua, Bupleurum falcatum, Catharanthus roseus, Nicotiana tabacum, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Maesa lanceolata, Medicago truncatula, Panax ginseng, Taxus baccata and Veratrum californicum consisting of more than 6,000 gene tags. These genes encode unique enzymes, membrane transporters and transcription factors, as well as many genes with a still unknown function.