The exponential industrial growth we see today rides on the back of large scale production of chemicals, explosives and pharmaceutical products. However, the effluents getting released from their manufacturing units are greatly compromising the sustainability of our environment. With greater awareness of the imperative for environmental clean-up, a promising approach that is attracting increasing research interests is biodegradation of xenobiotics. In this approach, biotransformation has proven to be one of the most effective tools. While many different model frameworks have been used to study different aspects of biotransformation, hairy roots (HRs) have been found to be exceptionally valuable. HR cultures are preferred over other in-vitro model systems due to their biochemical stability and hormone-autotrophy. In addition, the multi-enzyme biosynthetic potential of HRs which is similar to the parent plant and their relatively low-cost cultural requirements further characterize their suitability for biotransformation. The recent progress observed in scale-up of HR cultures and understanding of functional genomics has opened up new dimensions providing valuable insights for industrial application. This review article summarizes the potential of HR cultures in the biotransformation of xenobiotics, their limitations in the application on a large scale and current strategies to alleviate them. Advancement in bioreactors engineering enabling large scale cultivation and modern gene technologies improving biotransformation efficiency promises to extend laboratory results to industrial applications.

中文翻译：

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毛状根对异生物质的生物转化

我们今天看到的指数级工业增长依赖于化学品、炸药和医药产品的大规模生产。然而，从他们的制造单位释放的污水极大地损害了我们环境的可持续性。随着人们对环境清理的必要性有了更多的认识，一种吸引越来越多研究兴趣的有前途的方法是异生物质的生物降解。在这种方法中，生物转化已被证明是最有效的工具之一。虽然许多不同的模型框架已被用于研究生物转化的不同方面，但已发现毛状根 (HR) 非常有价值。由于其生化稳定性和激素自养性，HR 培养比其他体外模型系统更受欢迎。此外，HRs 的多酶生物合成潜力与亲本植物相似，而且它们相对低成本的培养要求进一步表征了它们对生物转化的适用性。最近在人力资源文化的扩大和对功能基因组学的理解方面取得的进展开辟了新的领域，为工业应用提供了宝贵的见解。这篇综述文章总结了 HR 培养物在异生物质生物转化中的潜力、它们在大规模应用中的局限性以及缓解它们的当前策略。生物反应器工程的进步使大规模培养成为可能，现代基因技术提高了生物转化效率，有望将实验室结果扩展到工业应用。