Hairy root cultures for monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway: Investigation and biotechnological production

Abstract

Terpene indole alkaloids (TIAs) comprise a major group of alkaloids as more than 3000 TIAs are known with resilient and beneficial biological activities. These TIAs exhibit varied structural intricacy with a characteristically common tryptophan or tryptamine residue with a carbon tail of terpenoid origin derived from the dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) pathways. According to the number of isoprene units, monoterpene indole alkaloids (MIAs) comprise the major class of TIAs that have two isoprene units originated from secologanin. MIAs have been extensively investigated for their immense pharmaceutical importance as these compounds possess strong properties against various types of cancers, diseases of the central nervous systems, malaria, hypertension, and major cardiac ailments. Keeping in mind their immense pharmaceutical worth and ever-increasing demand from the pharmaceutical world, solicitous attention is needed on their biological production and scientific strategies to abate the demand and supply ratio. Furthermore, a holistic understanding is always required to explore intimately interconnected facts of synthesis and regulation of these metabolites. In this context, with their reasonable competence, the hairy root cultures (HRCs) have gained center-stage focus as an excellent in vitro system for different scientific investigatory objectives. This chapter provides condensed information about various MIAs, their biosynthesis in native plants, and contribution of HRCs to investigate the operational and regulatory mechanism of their in vitro and in planta biosynthesis.