European scientists have made ground-breaking discoveries for improving the efficiency of the production of pharmaceuticals² through plant biotechnology. Biotechnological production offers a cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative to the chemical synthesis of rare and complex pharmaceutical¹ compounds currently isolated³ from plants. The results have been achieved in the European SmartCell project coordinated⁴ by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. Several expensive anticancer alkaloid blockbusters used in chemotherapy, such as terpenoid indole alkaloids -- vinblastine and vincristine, are currently extracted from the plant Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) at high price. These compounds are used to treat Hodgkin's lymphoma（淋巴瘤）, breast cancer, small-cell lung cancer and leukemia（白血病）. Typically, very low levels accumulate in plant tissues, but chemical synthesis is not an economical alternative either due to their highly complex structures and specific stereochemical features. Internationally, much effort has been invested to develop more accessible and cost-effective sources of these drugs.

 

The biotechnological production of high-value plant-derived compounds using plant cell cultures is an attractive and sustainable alternative to extraction from whole plant material. However, the biosynthetic pathway leading to these compounds in plants is long and complex, with multiple enzymatic⁵ steps that are still largely uncharacterized at the genetic⁶ level. One of the main goals of the European Consortium SmartCell was to unravel⁷ the metabolic⁸ pathway leading to the periwinkle（小长春花） terpenoid indole alkaloids.

 

The SmartCell Consortium succeeded in elucidating⁹ the complete upstream segment of the terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis pathway, as described in a ground-breaking article published in the journal Nature Communications.

 

The complete pathway of twelve enzymes¹⁰ was reconstructed in tobacco plants, paving the way for cost-effective production of diverse therapeutic¹¹ compounds. Moreover, cell culture technologies were developed, and the cultivation¹² of the plant cells was scaled-up using bioreactors at VTT's pilot laboratory in Finland.

 

"The use of plant cells as real green chemical factories is now becoming feasible for the first time. The technology developed and the experience gained on terpenoid indole alkaloids in this project can be utilized¹³ and applied¹⁴ to other compounds and plants as well," says the project coordinator¹⁵ Dr Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey from VTT.

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