Terpenoid indole alkaloids catharanthine

Vinblastine is a highly effective anticancer agent currently used clinically against leukemia, Hodgkin s lymphoma, and other cancers. (113, 114). Vinblastine is derived from dimerization of vindoline and another terpenoid indole alkaloid, catharanthine. 

Terpenoid Indole Alkaloids.—Important recent work has defined strictosidine (97) as a key intermediate in the biosynthesis of terpenoid indole alkaloids with both 3a- and 3/3-configurations. Some of this work, published earlier in preliminary form (cf. Vol. 9, p. 18), is now available in a full paper.26 In addition to those alkaloids examined earlier, strychnine, gelsemine, vincadifformine, isoreserpiline, aricine, isoreserpinine, and ajmaline have been shown to derive from strictosidine (data are also included for ajmalicine, for catharanthine, and for vindoline which had been reported earlier). 

Terpenoid Indole Alkaloids.—Crude preparations from Catharanthus roseus seedlings and from tissue cultures have been shown to be capable of synthesizing in good yield from tryptamine (110) and secologanin (111) with added co-factors, geisso-schizine (112) and ajmalicine (113), representatives of the first major class of terpenoid indole alkaloids (Corynanthe). Geissoschizine was metabolized to ajmalicine and several other unidentified alkaloids (for reviews of biosynthesis in intact plants see ref. 106). The catabolic turnover of vindoline and catharanthine in C. roseus has been studied. ... 

Fig. (5). Biosynthesis of catharanthine and tabersonine from strictosidine, the central precursor of all terpenoid indole alkaloids. SGD strictosidine p-D-glucosidade.

Terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis actually starts with the coupling of tryptamine and secologanin (Fig. 12). In the next step, a glucosidase splits off the sugar moiety and the reactive dialdehyde formed is further converted through different pathways to a cascade of products, including ajmalicine, catharanthine, tabersonine, and vindoline. 

The biosynthesis of the terpenoid indole alkaloids in C. roseus has been studied extensively, but still the pathway has not yet been completely elucidated on the level of the intermediates. Particularly, the secoiridoid pathway, and the different pathways after strictosidine leading to, for example, tabersonine and catharanthine are not yet completely known. On the level of the enzymes, certain steps have now been quite well characterized, but others remain unknown. The conversion of loganin into secologanin is one of the intriguing unresolved problems, although it is not a rate-limiting step. Even possible intermediates and the chemical mechanism behind this conversion are not clear, despite quite extensive studies. 

Terpenoid Indole Alkaloids.—It has been confirmed recently for ajmalicine (84), vindoline (89), and catharanthine (90), in Catharanthus roseus Vinca rosea) that strictosidine (79), and not vincoside (86), is the key intermediate in terpenoid alkaloid biosynthesis cf. ref. 9). 

The opportunity of obtaining further spectrometric data without laborious isolation procedures makes GC-MS analysis an attractive method for the analysis of terpenoid indole alkaloids. A list of 22 terpenoid indole alkaloids analyzed by GC was reported by Dagnino et al. (1991). Not all terpenoid indole alkaloids could be analyzed without previous derivatization procedures. An example of an unstable compound is catharanthine, which showed no analytically useful signal without previous derivatization (Ylinen et al. 1990). 

Yang L, Wang H, Zu Y, Zhao C, Zhang L, Chen X, Zhang Z (2011) Ultrasound-assisted extraction of the three terpenoid indole alkaloids vindoline, catharanthine and vinblastine from Catharanthus roseus using ionic liquid aqueous solutions. Chem Eng J 172 705-712... 

Terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthetic enzymes are associated with at least three different cell types in C. roseus TDC and STR are localized to the epidermis of aerial organs and the apical meristem of roots, D4H and DAT are restricted to the laticifers and idio-blasts of leaves and stems, and GlOH is found in internal parenchyma of aerial organs (St-Pierre et al. 1999 Buriat et al. 2004) thus, vindoline pathway intermediates must be translocated between cell types. Moreover, enzymes involved in terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthesis in C. roseus are also localized to at least five subcellular compartments TDC, D4H and DAT are in the cytosol, STR and the peroxidase that couples catharanthine to vinblastine are localized to the vacuole indicating transport of tryptamine across the tono-plast, SGD is a soluble enzyme associated with the cytoplasmic face of the endoplasmic reticulum, the P450-dependent monooxygenases are integral endomembrane proteins, and the N-methyltransferase involved in vindoline biosynthesis is localized to thylakoid membranes (De Luca and St-Pierre 2000). 

This structural group of indole alkaloids covers simple indole alkaloids (e.g., tryptamine, serotonin, psilocin and psilocybin), /3-carboline alkaloids (e.g., harmine), terpenoid indole (e.g., ajmalicine, catharanthine and tabersonine), quinoline alkaloids (e.g., quinine, quinidine and cinchonidine), pyrroloindole... 

L-Tryptophan is an indole ring containing aromatic amino acid derived via the shikimate pathway. The tryptophan-derived alkaloids are found in eight families, of which, Apocynaceae, Loganiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Nyssaceae are the best sources. The alkaloids under discussion are the Catharanthus alkaloids, namely, ajmalicine, tabersonine, catharanthine, vindoline, vinblastine, vincristine and vincamine as well as terpenoid alkaloids derived from other families, namely, yohimbine, reserpine, strychnine, brucine, and ellipticine. The above-mentioned alkaloids are pharmacologically very important and hence extremely valuable. This chapter describes various aspects of the tryptophan-derived alkaloids like occurrence, biological activity, phytochemistry, and commercial and biotechnological aspects. 

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