Abstract
Many plants belonging to the Solanaceae family have been used as a source of pharmaceuticals for centuries because of their active principles, tropane and nicotine alkaloids. Tropane alkaloids, atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, are among the oldest drugs in medicine. On the other hand nicotine, the addictive agent in tobacco, has only recently gained attention as a backbone for novel potential alkaloids to be used for certain neurological diseases. The biotechnological production of alkaloids utilizing plant cells as hosts would be an attractive option. However, to date very little success in this field has been gained because of the lack of understanding how these compounds are synthesized in a plant cell. Metabolic engineering attempts have already shown that when the rate-limiting steps of the biosynthetic pathway are completely known and the respective genes cloned, the exact regulation towards desired medicinal products will be possible in the near future. The new functional genomics tools, which combine transcriptome and metabolome data, will create a platform to better understand a whole system and to engineer the complex plant biosynthetic pathways. With the help of this technology, it is not only possible to produce known plant metabolites more effectively but also to make arrays of new compounds in plants and cell cultures.
Keywords: Alkaloids, cell cultures, functional genomics, metabolic engineering, metabolomics, pathway discovery, transcript profiling, pharmaceutical properties
Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
Title: Tropane and Nicotine Alkaloid Biosynthesis-Novel Approaches Towards Biotechnological Production of Plant-Derived Pharmaceuticals
Volume: 8 Issue: 4
Author(s): Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey
Affiliation:
Keywords: Alkaloids, cell cultures, functional genomics, metabolic engineering, metabolomics, pathway discovery, transcript profiling, pharmaceutical properties
Abstract: Many plants belonging to the Solanaceae family have been used as a source of pharmaceuticals for centuries because of their active principles, tropane and nicotine alkaloids. Tropane alkaloids, atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine, are among the oldest drugs in medicine. On the other hand nicotine, the addictive agent in tobacco, has only recently gained attention as a backbone for novel potential alkaloids to be used for certain neurological diseases. The biotechnological production of alkaloids utilizing plant cells as hosts would be an attractive option. However, to date very little success in this field has been gained because of the lack of understanding how these compounds are synthesized in a plant cell. Metabolic engineering attempts have already shown that when the rate-limiting steps of the biosynthetic pathway are completely known and the respective genes cloned, the exact regulation towards desired medicinal products will be possible in the near future. The new functional genomics tools, which combine transcriptome and metabolome data, will create a platform to better understand a whole system and to engineer the complex plant biosynthetic pathways. With the help of this technology, it is not only possible to produce known plant metabolites more effectively but also to make arrays of new compounds in plants and cell cultures.
Export Options
About this article
Cite this article as:
Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey , Tropane and Nicotine Alkaloid Biosynthesis-Novel Approaches Towards Biotechnological Production of Plant-Derived Pharmaceuticals, Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 2007; 8 (4) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138920107781387401
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138920107781387401 |
Print ISSN 1389-2010 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1873-4316 |
Call for Papers in Thematic Issues
Artificial Intelligence in Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that analyzes and explores biological data. This field combines biology and information system. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has attracted great attention as it tries to replicate human intelligence. It has become common technology for analyzing and solving complex data and problems and encompasses sub-fields of machine ...read more
- Author Guidelines
- Graphical Abstracts
- Fabricating and Stating False Information
- Research Misconduct
- Post Publication Discussions and Corrections
- Publishing Ethics and Rectitude
- Increase Visibility of Your Article
- Archiving Policies
- Peer Review Workflow
- Order Your Article Before Print
- Promote Your Article
- Manuscript Transfer Facility
- Editorial Policies
- Allegations from Whistleblowers
Related Articles
-
GSK-3 Inhibitors in the Regulation and Control of Colon Carcinoma
Current Drug Targets Functional Interactions of Tau and their Relevance for Alzheimers Disease
Current Alzheimer Research Catastrophic Antiphospholipid Syndrome: Lessons from the “CAPS Registry”
Current Rheumatology Reviews Development of Novel Genomic Blood Biomarkers for Neurodegenerative Diseases
CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets Drugs of Abuse and their Detection Methodologies: Contribution of Chemical Sensor
Current Organic Chemistry DSPE-PEG: A Distinctive Component in Drug Delivery System
Current Pharmaceutical Design Mechanism of Drug and Toxic Actions of Gossypol: Focus on Reactive Oxygen Species and Electron Transfer
Current Medicinal Chemistry Nicotinic Treatment for Cognitive Dysfunction
Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders Relevance of the Vascular Effects of Insulin in the Rationale of its Therapeutical Use
Cardiovascular & Hematological Disorders-Drug Targets Targeting Parkinson’s - Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Oxidative Stress as Points of Interventions
CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets Phytocompounds as Potential Agents to Treat Obesity-Cardiovascular Ailments
Cardiovascular & Hematological Agents in Medicinal Chemistry Photopolymerizable Resins for 3D-Printing Solid-Cured Tissue Engineered Implants
Current Drug Targets GABAergic Agonists Modulate the Glutamate Release from Frontal Cortex Synaptosomes of Rats with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
Inflammation & Allergy - Drug Targets (Discontinued) The Involvement of Post-Translational Modifications in Alzheimer's Disease
Current Alzheimer Research Chemical Constituents from the Chinese Bryophytes and Their Reversal of Fungal Resistance
Current Organic Chemistry High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity Stimulate Depressive Behavior in Rats
Current Psychopharmacology Pulmonary Infections in the Era of Biological Agents
Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews Electrodeposition of Cu-Ni Coatings for Marine Protection of Mild Steel
Innovations in Corrosion and Materials Science (Discontinued) Zacopride Exerts an Antiarrhythmic Effect by Specifically Stimulating the Cardiac Inward Rectifier Potassium Current in Rabbits: Exploration of a New Antiarrhythmic Strategy
Current Pharmaceutical Design Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Blockers for the Treatment of Chronic Pain
Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry