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Elicitor-mediated induction of phenylalanine ammonia lyase and tryptophan decarboxylase: Accumulation of phenols and indole alkaloids in cell suspension cultures of Catharanthus roseus

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Abstract

Cell suspension cultures (cell line No 615) of Catharanthus roseus cv. Little Delicata responded to elicitor treatment by accumulating monoterpenoid indole alkaloids and phenolic compounds. The excretion of phenols into the culture medium resulted from the induction of the branch-point enzyme phenylalanine ammonia lyase. The accumulation of alkaloids, however, occurred several hours earlier than the elicitor-mediated induction of tryptophan decarboxylase through which shikimate pathway intermediates are channelled into tryptamine and related indole alkaloids. The results indicate that both pathways for phenol and indole alkaloid biosynthesis responded to elicitor treatment and that no obvious causal relationship between pathways could be deduced from this study.

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Abbreviations

PAL:

phenylalanine ammonia lyase

TDC:

tryptophan decarboxylase

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Author notes

  1. U. Eilert

    Present address: Institut für Pharmazeutische Biologie der Technischen, Universität Braunschweig, Mendelsohnstr. 1, D-3300, Braunschweig, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biotechnology Institute, National Research Council of Canada, S7N 0W9, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    U. Eilert, V. De Luca & W. G. W. Kurz

  2. Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 1, D-7400, Tübingen, FRG

    H. U. Seitz

Authors
  1. H. U. Seitz
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  2. U. Eilert
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  3. V. De Luca
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  4. W. G. W. Kurz
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Dedicated to Dr. Friedrich Constabel on the occasion of his 60th birthday

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Seitz, H.U., Eilert, U., De Luca, V. et al. Elicitor-mediated induction of phenylalanine ammonia lyase and tryptophan decarboxylase: Accumulation of phenols and indole alkaloids in cell suspension cultures of Catharanthus roseus . Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 18, 71–78 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033466

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00033466

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