Abstract
Despite the fact that currently about 25% of all pharmaceuticals are
plant derived, including high value compounds like paclitaxel for which
chemical synthesis is economically unfeasible, there are only very few
examples for commercial exploitation of cell cultures. This is due to the
exceedingly empirical nature of selecting high yielding clones and their
long-term production instability. The lack of knowledge to fully understand
the complex biosynthetic pathways in the plants adds to the problem.
In order to gain a full picture of the secondary metabolism in plants we have
developed a unique technology which combines genomics and metabolomics. The
potential of this method is demonstrated in the model system of tobacco BY-2
cell cultures. A cDNA-AFLP transcript profiling was combined with a targeted
metabolome analysis in methyl jasmonate elicited cells. From the 20000
transcript tags visualised in total 591 were jasmonate-modulated. In silico
analysis further revealed that half of these genes are of special interest
because of their early induction. 18% display no homology to any known
sequence, whereas 64 % are similar to genes with a known function and 18% are
similar to genes without a known function. After the conversion of the gene
tags into full-length cDNAs and their cloning into suitable vectors the
functional analysis is performed by overexpression / co-suppression in
transformed cell lines. Besides identifying several novel genes we were able
to characterize poorly understood branches of secondary metabolite
biosynthetic pathways in tobacco, leading for example to alkaloids, by using
hyphenated analytical tools like GC- and HPLC-MS. The great advantage of the
new technology platform is its universal application to any plant or plant
cell culture of interest.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2003 |
MoE publication type | Not Eligible |
Event | Conference on Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals 2003 - Quebec, Canada Duration: 16 Mar 2003 → 19 Mar 2003 |
Conference
Conference | Conference on Plant-Made Pharmaceuticals 2003 |
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Country/Territory | Canada |
City | Quebec |
Period | 16/03/03 → 19/03/03 |