Transcription Analysis and Metabolite Profiling of the Terpenoid Indole Alkaloid Pathway in Engineered Catharanthus Roseus Hairy Root Lines

Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus) produces more than 130 different terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs), and so far is the only source for obtaining vinblastine and vincristine, which are currently widely applied in chemotherapies for many types of cancers. Those TIAs exist at very low concentrations in C. roseus, making direct extraction from plant laborious and costly. Hairy root culture is one of the alternatives to produce valuable secondary metabolites with high biochemical and genetic stability and capacity of large-scale fermentation.

This poster summarizes the results of several C. roseus hairy root lines that were engineered with the goal of enhancing flux towards the TIAs. Quantitative PCR of several transcription regulators and enzymes involved in TIA pathway was done to evaluate the engineered hairy root lines in transcription level. In addition, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems coupled with either mass spectrometer or photodiode array (PDA) detectors were applied to identify and quantify the key metabolites in the TIA pathway.