Development of transcriptomic resources for interrogating the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids in medicinal plant species.

ABSTRACT: The natural diversity of plant metabolism has long been a source for human medicines. One group of plant-derived compounds, the monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs), includes well-documented therapeutic agents used in the treatment of cancer (vinblastine, vincristine, camptothecin), hypertension (reserpine, ajmalicine), malaria (quinine), and as analgesics (7-hydroxymitragynine). Our understanding of the biochemical pathways that synthesize these commercially relevant compounds is incomplete due in part to a lack of molecular, genetic, and genomic resources for the identification of the genes involved in these specialized metabolic pathways. To address these limitations, we generated large-scale transcriptome sequence and expression profiles for three species of Asterids that produce medici

SUBMITTER: Gongora-Castillo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3530497 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature