A virus-induced gene silencing approach to understanding alkaloid metabolism in Catharanthus roseus.

ABSTRACT: The anticancer agents vinblastine and vincristine are bisindole alkaloids derived from coupling vindoline and catharanthine, monoterpenoid indole alkaloids produced exclusively by the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus). Industrial production of vinblastine and vincristine currently relies on isolation from C. roseus leaves, a process that affords these compounds in 0.0003-0.01% yields. Metabolic engineering efforts to either improve alkaloid content or provide alternative sources of the bisindole alkaloids ultimately rely on the isolation and characterization of the genes involved. Several vindoline biosynthetic genes have been isolated, and the cellular and subcellular organization of the corresponding enzymes has been well studied. However, due to the leaf-specific localization

SUBMITTER: Liscombe DK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3435519 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature