The transcription factor OpWRKY2 positively regulates the biosynthesis of the anticancer drug camptothecin in Ophiorrhiza pumila.

ABSTRACT: The limited bioavailability of plant-derived natural products with anticancer activity poses major challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. An example of this is camptothecin, a monoterpene indole alkaloid with potent anticancer activity that is extracted at very low concentrations from woody plants. Recently, camptothecin biosynthesis has been shown to become biotechnologically amenable in hairy-root systems of the natural producer Ophiorrhiza pumila. Here, time-course expression and metabolite analyses were performed to identify novel transcriptional regulators of camptothecin biosynthesis in O. pumila. It is shown here that camptothecin production increased over cultivation time and that the expression pattern of the WRKY transcription factor encoding gene OpWRKY2 is closely correlate

SUBMITTER: Hao X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7775441 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature