The ORCA2 transcription factor plays a key role in regulation of the terpenoid indole alkaloid pathway.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The terpenoid indole alkaloid (TIA) pathway leads to the production of pharmaceutically important drugs, such as the anticancer compounds vinblastine and vincristine. Unfortunately, these drugs are produced in trace amounts, causing them to be very costly. To increase production of these drugs, an improved understanding of the TIA regulatory pathway is needed. Towards this end, transgenic Catharanthus roseus hairy roots that overexpress the ORCA2 TIA transcriptional activator were generated and characterized.

Results

Transcriptional profiling experiments revealed that overexpression of ORCA2 results in altered expression of key genes from the indole and terpenoid pathways, which produce precursors for the TIA pathway, and from the TIA pathway itself. In addition,

SUBMITTER: Li CY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3851283 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature