Plant Metabolic Engineering Strategies for the Production of Pharmaceutical Terpenoids

Abstract

Pharmaceutical terpenoids belong to the most diverse class of natural products. They have significant curative effects on a variety of diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, malaria and Alzheimer’s disease. Nowadays, elicitors, including biotic and abiotic elicitors, are often used to activate the pathway of secondary metabolism and enhance the production of target terpenoids. Based on Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation, several plant metabolic engineering strategies hold great promise to regulate the biosynthesis of pharmaceutical terpenoids. Overexpressing terpenoids biosynthesis pathway genes in homologous and ectopic plants is an effective strategy to enhance the yield of pharmaceutical terpenoids. Another strategy is to suppress the expression of competitive metabolic pathways. In addition, global regulation which includes regulating the relative transcription factors, endogenous phytohormones and primary metabolism could also markedly increase their yield. All these strategies offer great opportunities to enhance the supply of scarce terpenoids drugs, reduce the price of expensive drugs and improve people’s standards of living.

Multiplexed CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated metabolic engineering of γ‐aminobutyric acid levels in Solanum lycopersicum

“…Multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful tool for plant metabolic engineering Metabolic engineering is aimed at changing the metabolic composition of the cell, and when applied to plants, food and feed quality improvements are the main goals. Previously, cross or backcross breeding technologies were commonly used to generate multiple mutants for plant metabolic engineering research (Lu et al, 2016). However, these simple and conventional methods are relatively time-consuming.…”

Volatile terpenoids: multiple functions, biosynthesis, modulation and manipulation by genetic engineering

“…Terpenoids isolated from taxol, ginkgolides and artemisinin have great effects on several diseases, such as paclitaxel derived from taxol, a diterpenoid derived from Taxus brevifolia, a significant anticancer agent. Structurally unique ginkgolides diterpenoids families are highly particular platelet-activating factor receptor antagonists (Lu et al 2016). Similarly nowadays, a sesquiterpene (artemisinin) produced from A. annua is the best therapeutic towards drug resistant and malaria causing Plasmodium falciparum strains (Weathers et al 2011).…”

Transgenesis as a Tool for the Efficient Production of Selected Secondary Metabolites from Plant in Vitro Cultures

“…However, the use of plants in treating ailments is also mentioned in the Pen T'Sao, written by the Emperor of China, Shen Nung, in 2500 BC, the Indian Vedas, the Ebers Papyrus written in 1550 BC, the Bible and the Talmud [2,3]. Almost all medical systems, be they Traditional Medicine, Kampo medicine, Ayurvedic medicine or European medicine, are based on plant-derived valuable medical compounds [4]. Currently, medicine is faced with a growing demand for a wide range of biologically-active compounds of natural origin that can demonstrate preventive or therapeutic effects against primary causes of death, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes or respiratory disease.…”