(Springer, 2007) Dutta, Ajaswrata; Sen, Jayanti; Deswal, Renu
Plants produce secondary metabolites in response to various external signals. Coordinated transcriptional control of biosynthetic genes emerges as a major
mechanism dictating the accumulation of secondary
metabolites in plant cells. However, information about
stress regulation of secondary metabolites and the molecular mechanisms regulating these specialized pathways are
poorly understood. Here, we show that terpenoid indole
alkaloid (TIA) biosynthetic pathway is differentially regulated in response to different abiotic stresses in Catharanthus roseus, a model medicinal plant producing important
anticancer and antihypertensive drugs. Semiquantitative
RT-PCR analysis of TIA and related primary pathway
genes in response to dehydration, low temperature, salinity,
UV-light and wounding revealed their negative regulation
in response to low temperature. HPLC analysis further
supports the notion that TIA biosynthetic pathway is negatively controlled by low temperature stress.
