Studies on effect of root temperature on alkaloid production in Catharanthus roseus, Coffea arabica and Nicotiana tabacum

• Grant number: 09/53450-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2010
• End date: July 12, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Mazzafera
• Grantee: Sonia Malik
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This proposal has been planned to study the effect of root zone temperature on alkaloids, an important class of secondary compounds in three different plant species i.e. Catharanthus roseus, Coffea Arabica and Nicotiana tabacum. These plant species are known to produce valuable alkaloids with various pharmaceutical applications. Alkaloid content and activity in plants are known to be influenced by temperature and roots are more sensitive to change in temperature as compared to aerial parts. It has been shown that temperature at root zone influence not only root physiology but also shoot metabolism. Therefore, it would be interesting to study in these plant species how the alkaloid content and expression of genes involved in biosynthetic pathways vary in response to changes in root temperature. Studies on root zone temperature of the plant are one of the emerging research areas these days and several recent reports have shown the effect of root temperature on plant growth. However, till date no studies have been focused to find out its effect on the production of alkaloids. This study would give new insights into the basic understanding of synthesis, accumulation and translocation of this important class of plant secondary compounds. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MALIK, SONIA; MIRJALILI, MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN; FETT-NETO, ARTHUR GERMANO; MAZZAFERA, PAULO; BONFILL, MERCEDES. Living between two worlds: two-phase culture systems for producing plant secondary metabolites. CRITICAL REVIEWS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY, v. 33, n. 1, p. 1-22, MAR 2013. (09/53450-8)