Mimicry of Pathogen Attack to Increase Secondary Metabolite Accumulation

Plant secondary metabolites are the source of many pharmaceuticals, flavorings and aromas. These compounds are produced in response to pathogen attack and environmental stress. Secondary metabolites, however, are normally produced by plants in small amounts. A group of scientists from University of Calcutta in India developed transgenic Indian ginseng (Withania somnifera) and wild morning glory (Convolvulus sepium) accumulating increased secondary metabolites such as calystegines and certain flavonoids. The medicinal plants were engineered to express a gene encoding cryptogein, a fungal elicitor protein. Chemical inducers of the pathogen defense response, such as jasmonic acid, salicylate and killed fungi, were also used to increase metabolite and biomass production in transformed cell cultures. Natural transformation with genes coding for microbial elicitors could be a novel approach in developing pathogen resistant plants.

The complete paper is available at http://www.springerlink.com/content/q56h176j324w6812/?p=df06f249f0d64ccf850307b9b750a29d&pi=0