Engineering Glucosinolates in Plants: Current Knowledge and Potential Uses Venkidasamy Baskar & Mayank Anand Gururani & Jae Woong Yu & Se Won Park Received: 6 June 2012 / Accepted: 31 August 2012 / Published online: 16 September 2012 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012 Abstract Glucosinolates (GSL) and their derivatives are well known for the characteristic roles they play in plant defense as signaling molecules and as bioactive compounds for human health. More than 130 GSLs have been reported so far, and most of them belong to the Brassicaceae family. Several enzymes and transcription factors involved in the GSL biosynthesis have been studied in the model plant, Arabidopsis, and in a few other Brassica crop species. Recent studies in GSL research have defined the regulation, distribution, and degradation of GSL biosynthetic pathways; however, the underlying mechanism behind transportation of GSLs in plants is still largely unknown. This review highlights the recent advances in the metabolic engineering of GSLs in plants and discusses their potential applications. Keywords Brassicaceae . Glucosinolate . Myrosinase . Transgenic Abbreviations GSLs Glucosinolates ITC Isothiocynate QTL Quantitative trait loci AGSL Aliphatic glucosinolate IGSL Indole glucosinolate BGSL Benzoic glucosinolate MBP Myrosinase-binding protein MyAP Myrosinase-associated protein SF Sulforaphane Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2012) 168:1694–1717 DOI 10.1007/s12010-012-9890-6 V. Baskar : M. A. Gururani : J. W. Yu : S. W. Park (*) Department of Molecular Biotechnology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul 143701, South Korea e-mail: sewpark@konkuk.ac.kr