Towards Complete Elucidation of Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Biosynthesis Pathway: Catharanthus roseusas a Pioneer System
Towards Complete Elucidation of Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Biosynthesis Pathway: Catharanthus roseusas a Pioneer System
- Advances in Botanical Research, 68, p.1-37, 2013 .
The development of various plant-based engineering efforts has been facilitated by recent large-scale transcriptomic resources. In consideration of the progress in the study of monoterpene indole alkaloid (MIA)metabolism achieved in the last decade, some strategies have been developed for metabolic engineering efforts. However, unidentified biosynthetic genes in the pathway limit this potential.Catharanthus roseusis the most well-studiedmedicinal plant owing to its production of valuable anticancer dimeric MIAs such as vinblastine. This chapter highlights the cell-, organ-, development- and environment-specific organisation of MIA biosynthesis and describes the intra- and inter-cellular trafficking of MIAs required for their assembly withinC. roseus. The combined use of cell- and organ-specific transcriptome databases of several MIA-accumulating plants is facilitating combined bioinformatic approaches to identify MIA candidate genes. Virus-induced gene silencing is being used to screen candidate genes for their involvement in MIA biosynthesis, and the function of selected genes can be identified by the expres-sion and assay of recombinant proteins in bacterial or yeast systems. These new tools showgreat promise for amore rapid discovery of newgenes involved inwholeMIA path-ways that enhance the potential of reconstituting them in heterologous microorganisms for the production of any valuable MIA.
The development of various plant-based engineering efforts has been facilitated by recent large-scale transcriptomic resources. In consideration of the progress in the study of monoterpene indole alkaloid (MIA)metabolism achieved in the last decade, some strategies have been developed for metabolic engineering efforts. However, unidentified biosynthetic genes in the pathway limit this potential.Catharanthus roseusis the most well-studiedmedicinal plant owing to its production of valuable anticancer dimeric MIAs such as vinblastine. This chapter highlights the cell-, organ-, development- and environment-specific organisation of MIA biosynthesis and describes the intra- and inter-cellular trafficking of MIAs required for their assembly withinC. roseus. The combined use of cell- and organ-specific transcriptome databases of several MIA-accumulating plants is facilitating combined bioinformatic approaches to identify MIA candidate genes. Virus-induced gene silencing is being used to screen candidate genes for their involvement in MIA biosynthesis, and the function of selected genes can be identified by the expres-sion and assay of recombinant proteins in bacterial or yeast systems. These new tools showgreat promise for amore rapid discovery of newgenes involved inwholeMIA path-ways that enhance the potential of reconstituting them in heterologous microorganisms for the production of any valuable MIA.