Enhancement of Camptothecin Production in Nothapodytes Nimmoniana, Graham - An Anticancerous Medicinal Plant: Current and Future Perspective

The IUP Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. V, No. 2, pp. 7-29, June 2011

Posted: 25 Apr 2012

See all articles by P. E. Rajasekharan

P. E. Rajasekharan

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research

V.K. Abdul Kareem

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR)

Date Written: April 24, 2012

Abstract

Camptothecin (CPT), a monoterpene indole alkaloid, is one of the most promising anticancer drugs of the 21st century. It was shown to be effective in the complete remission of lungs, breast and uterine cervical cancers. Irinotecan and Topotecan, the two water soluble derivatives of CPT, have been approved by the FDA of the USA for treating colorectal and ovarian cancers. Although CPT has been reported to exist in several species, the highest concentration has been found in Nothapodytes nimmoniana, a small tree distributed in the Western Ghats of India. In spite of the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical industry, CPT is still extracted from plants. In the recent years, there has been an indiscriminate extraction of N. nimmoniana from many parts of India, especially from the Western Ghats because of the enormous demand for the chemical worldwide. Recently, some efforts have been initiated for the development of in vitro systems, conservation and production of CPT, identification of high-yielding individuals and molecular profiling. In this review article, we briefly outline the overall status of N. nimmoniana as a source of CPT and discuss the possibility of biotechnological intervention for higher production of CPT without destructive harvesting of natural population. Functional genomic approaches such as transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics will probably accelerate the identification of genes involved in CPT biosynthetic pathways. The combination of techniques like hairy root culture and metabolic engineering/physiological manipulation in N. nimmoniana seems to be the most attractive strategy for higher production of CPT.

Keywords: nothapodytes nimmoniana, anticancer, camptothecin, chemical profiling, endophytic association, hairy root, in vitro multiplication, metabolic engineering, MEP pathway, ORCA3, strictosidine synthase

Suggested Citation

Rajasekharan, P. E. and Kareem, V.K. Abdul, Enhancement of Camptothecin Production in Nothapodytes Nimmoniana, Graham - An Anticancerous Medicinal Plant: Current and Future Perspective (April 24, 2012). The IUP Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. V, No. 2, pp. 7-29, June 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2045349

P. E. Rajasekharan (Contact Author)

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research ( email )

Bangalore, 560089
India

V.K. Abdul Kareem

Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) ( email )

Bangalore, 560089
India

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Abstract Views
846
PlumX Metrics