Opium poppy and Madagascar periwinkle: model non-model systems to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in plants

Alkaloids represent a large and diverse group of compounds that are related by the occurrence of a nitrogen atom within a heterocyclic backbone. Unlike other types of secondary metabolites, the various structural categories of alkaloids are unrelated in terms of biosynthesis and evolution. Although the biology of each group is unique, common patterns have become apparent. Opium poppy ( Papaver somniferum ), which produces several benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, and Madagascar periwinkle ( Catharanthus roseus ), which accumulates an array of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, have emerged as the premier organisms used to study plant alkaloid metabolism. The status of these species as model systems results from decades of research on the chemistry, enzymology and molecular biology responsible for the biosynthesis of valuable pharmaceutical alkaloids. Opium poppy remains the only commercial source for morphine, codeine and semi-synthetic analgesics, such as oxycodone, derived from thebaine. Catharanthus roseus is the only source for the anti-cancer drugs vinblastine and vincristine. Impressive collections of cDNAs encoding biosynthetic enzymes and regulatory proteins involved in the formation of benzylisoquinoline and monoterpenoid indole alkaloids are now available, and the rate of gene discovery has accelerated with the application of genomics. Such tools have allowed the establishment of models that describe the complex cell biology of alkaloid metabolism in these important medicinal plants. A suite of biotechnological resources, including genetic transformation protocols, has allowed the application of metabolic engineering to modify the alkaloid content of these and related species. An overview of recent progress on benzylisoquinoline and monoterpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis in opium poppy and C. roseus is presented.     

外源乙烯对长春花生理水平和生物碱积累的影响

药用植物长春花中含有100多种萜类吲哚生物碱（TIAs）,其中具有抗肿瘤功效的长春碱和长春新碱受到关注。为了研究外源乙烯处理对长春花生长情况、生理状态和萜类吲哚生物碱合成的整体影响,本文以长春花幼苗为实验材料,使用外源乙烯处理后对比了不同生长条件下长春花的生物量积累、根茎伸长、光合参数以及生物碱含量等指标,分析了生物碱合成与其他指标之间的相关性。结果表明,外源乙烯处理使长春花乙稀释放量上升,乙烯信号响应因子erf基因表达量提高。乙烯利抑制长春花幼苗生物量积累、根纵向生长,促进茎秆横向加粗生长,由非气孔因素导致净光合速率（P_n）和气孔导度（G_s）下降。外源乙烯促进异胡豆苷（STR）、长春质碱（CAT）、文多灵（VIN）和长春碱（VINB）积累,并且促进长春碱合成途径中关键酶基因str和CrPRX上调表达。相关性分析结果表明,次生代谢产物的积累、生长指标、光合参数之间存在明显的相关性;长春质碱、文多灵、长春碱与茎秆直径（SD）显著正相关（P < 0.05）,与生物量（B）、株高（H）、根长（RL）、净光合速率（P_n）呈显著负相关（P < 0.05）。本文为研究外源乙烯调控长春花生物碱积累的机制提供理论基础。     

Screening method for cDNAs encoding putative enzymes converting loganin into secologanin by a transgenic yeast culture

A screening method was developed for the detection of enzymes converting loganin to secologanin, a precursor in the biosynthesis of indole alkaloids. The method uses a transgenic yeast culture expressing two cDNAs encoding enzymes involved in the terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis. In the presence of secologanin, the yeast culture produces a yellow compound visible on nitrocellulose. This color change was used to screen a cDNA library of Catharanthus roseus for a putative enzyme converting loganin into secologanin.     

Role of the non-mevalonate pathway in indole alkaloid production by Catharanthus roseus hairy roots

The 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate (DXP) pathway (non-mevalonate pathway) leading to terpenoids via isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) has been shown to occur in most bacteria and in all higher plants. Treatment with the antibiotic fosmidomycin, a specific inhibitor of DXP reductoisomerase, considerably inhibited the accumulation of the alkaloids ajmalicine, tabersonine, and lochnericine by Catharanthus roseus hairy root cultures in the exponential growth phase. However, fosmidomycin did not significantly affect alkaloid levels in stationary phase hairy root cultures. Feeding with 1-deoxy-D-xylulose, 10-hydroxygeraniol, or loganin resulted in significant increases in alkaloid production by exponential phase hairy root cultures. These results suggest that the DXP pathway is a major provider of carbon for the monoterpenoid pathway leading to the formation of indole alkaloids in C. roseus hairy roots in the exponential phase.     

Cloning, characterization and localization of a novel basic peroxidase gene from Catharanthus roseus

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don produces a number of biologically active terpenoid indole alkaloids via a complex terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthetic pathway. The final dimerization step of this pathway, leading to the synthesis of a dimeric alkaloid, vinblastine, was demonstrated to be catalyzed by a basic peroxidase. However, reports of the gene encoding this enzyme are scarce for C. roseus. We report here for the first time the cloning, characterization and localization of a novel basic peroxidase, CrPrx, from C. roseus. A 394 bp partial peroxidase cDNA (CrInt1) was initially amplified from the internodal stem tissue, using degenerate oligonucleotide primers, and cloned. The full-length coding region of CrPrx cDNA was isolated by screening a leaf-specific cDNA library with CrInt1 as probe. The CrPrx nucleotide sequence encodes a deduced translation product of 330 amino acids with a 21 amino acid signal peptide, suggesting that CrPrx is secretory in nature. The molecular mass of this unprocessed and unmodified deduced protein is estimated to be 37.43 kDa, and the pI value is 8.68. CrPrx was found to belong to a 'three intron' category of gene that encodes a class III basic secretory peroxidase. CrPrx protein and mRNA were found to be present in specific organs and were regulated by different stress treatments. Using a beta-glucuronidase-green fluorescent protein fusion of CrPrx protein, we demonstrated that the fused protein is localized in leaf epidermal and guard cell walls of transiently transformed tobacco. We propose that CrPrx is involved in cell wall synthesis, and also that the gene is induced under methyl jasmonate treatment. Its potential involvement in the terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthetic pathway is discussed.     

Metabolic discrimination of Catharanthus roseus leaves infected by phytoplasma using 1H-NMR spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis

A comprehensive metabolomic profiling of Catharanthus roseus L. G. Don infected by 10 types of phytoplasmas was carried out using one-dimensional and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy followed by principal component analysis (PCA), an unsupervised clustering method requiring no knowledge of the data set and used to reduce the dimensionality of multivariate data while preserving most of the variance within it. With a combination of these techniques, we were able to identify those metabolites that were present in different levels in phytoplasma-infected C. roseus leaves than in healthy ones. The infection by phytoplasma in C. roseus leaves causes an increase of metabolites related to the biosynthetic pathways of phenylpropanoids or terpenoid indole alkaloids: chlorogenic acid, loganic acid, secologanin, and vindoline. Furthermore, higher abundance of Glc, Glu, polyphenols, succinic acid, and Suc were detected in the phytoplasma-infected leaves. The PCA of the (1)H-NMR signals of healthy and phytoplasma-infected C. roseus leaves shows that these metabolites are major discriminating factors to characterize the phytoplasma-infected C. roseus leaves from healthy ones. Based on the NMR and PCA analysis, it might be suggested that the biosynthetic pathway of terpenoid indole alkaloids, together with that of phenylpropanoids, is stimulated by the infection of phytoplasma.     

Pravastatin: A tool for investigating the availability of mevalonate metabolites for primary and secondary metabolism in Catharanthus roseus cell suspensions

In the C20 strain of Catharanthus roseus , 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) reduces alkaloid accumulation by inhibiting the synthesis of precursors of alkaloid terpenoids. However, the presence of this growth regulator is necessary to promote growth, as measured in terms of dry weight and sterol content. The terpenoid metabolism implicated in the accumulation of alkaloids would therefore be the target of 2,4-D inhibition and not the metabolism leading to sterol biosynthesis. The specific inhibition by pravastatin of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (EC 1.1.1.34), the enzyme that catalyses mevalonate synthesis, enables the limitation of mevalonate on sterol content and on alkaloid accumulation to be studied. In presence of pravastatin cells are supplied with labelled mevalonate. Under these conditions the mevalonate is incorporated into sterols but not into alkaloids accumulated in the absence of 2,4-D. The inhibition of sterol biosynthesis induced by pravastatin is not overcome by zeatin or a cytokinin-like compound, whereas the inhibition of alkaloid accumulation can be partially overcome. The use of pravastatin shows that the availability of mevalonate for primary and secondary metabolism is differently regulated in Catharanthus roseus cells.     

Identification of a low vindoline accumulating cultivar of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don by alkaloid and enzymatic profiling

The Madagascar periwinkle [Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don] is a commercially important horticultural flower species and is the only source of the monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs), vinblastine and vincristine, key pharmaceutical compounds used to combat a number of different cancers. The present study uses high performance liquid chromatography for metabolic profiling of the MIAs extracted from seedlings and young leaves of 50 different flowering cultivars of C. roseus to show that, except for a single low vindoline cultivar (Vinca Mediterranean DP Orchid), they accumulate similar levels of MIAs. Further enzymatic studies with extracts from young leaves and from developing seedlings show that the low vindoline cultivar has a 10-fold lower tabersonine-16-hydroxylase activity than those of C. roseus cv. Little Delicata. It is concluded that rapid metabolic and more selective enzymatic profiling of Catharanthus mutants could be useful for the identification of a range of altered MIA biosynthesis lines.