In article ,
Dominic Ebacher wrote:

I was thinking that it might be a cool if we could use certain
biologically manipulable species of plants (arabidopsis for instance)
to produce biologically relevant compounds. The rationale for this is
that we can do many genetic manipulations with arabidopsis that we
can't do elsewhere, and the sequence of the entire genome has been
mapped - facilitating the directed targeting of genes and PCR
amplification of relevant enhancer sequences (should the need arise).

If you want gobs of stuff, you are further ahead putting it in a crop
plant that you can grow many acres of. Maize and soybeans are already
used, which I think is a terrible idea, especially for a crop like
maize which spreads its pollen for miles. Another crop often used
is tobacco, which has the advantage that it is already poisonous, so
people are not likely to eat it.

A few months ago a large repository of soybeans had to be destroyed
in the US because it was contaminated with maize that had been GM'd
to produce some pharmaceuticals.

Here's my question. If Arabidopsis doesn't have the genes neccessary
to produce a certain biological compound that another plant produces
(say tetrahydracannabidiol, or the irritative compound in poisin ivy)
would it be possible to induce expression of the desired compound
through the ectopic insertion of the relevant pathway genes from the
species which produces the compound.

Yes.

Have any experiments of this nature been undertaken (pubmed references
would be great)?

Here's somewhat boosterish web page about this whole area, with lots of
links: www.molecularfarming.com

If we didn't use arabidopsis to produce our biologically relevant
compound, are there any suggestions on what might be a better host
plant (given that most plants can be readily transformed using
agrobacterium these days)?

See above.

Other comments, suggestions are welcomed.

While the technique has great potential, the potential for disastrous
effects is also present, and is not being properly addressed in the
current pursuit of quick big bucks. IMNSHO