Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2009.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Other Authors: Sarah E. O'Connor.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46650
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author McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author2 Sarah E. O'Connor.
author_facet Sarah E. O'Connor.
McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
author_sort McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
collection MIT
description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2009.
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spelling mit-1721.1/466502019-04-12T14:33:38Z Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sarah E. O'Connor. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemistry. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Chemistry. Chemistry. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemistry, 2009. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Terpene indole alkaloids are a class of natural products produced by plants, many of which are used clinically for the treatment of human disease. Natural products, are not produced by the organism for the purpose of treating human disease and often tailoring of the natural product scaffold results in drugs with improved properties. Precursor directed biosynthesis (PDB) describes the inclusion of biosynthetic precursor analogs in the growth media of a producing organism for the production of secondary metabolite derivatives derived from these exogenous precursors. These studies examine precursor directed biosynthesis of alkaloid analogs in Catharanthus roseus hairy roots and seedlings. All terpene indole alkaloids are derived from tryptamine and secologanin, which are coupled to form strictosidine by the enzyme strictosidine synthase (STR). Analysis of the tryptamine substrate specificity of strictosidine synthase (STR) revealed a subset of tryptamine analogs which were converted to the corresponding strictosidine analogs. The strictosidine analogs generated were processed by the next enzyme in the pathway strictosidine-p-glucosidase (SGD). With a set of accepted tryptamine substrates in hand, the precursor analogs were fed to C. roseus cultures for the production and identification of novel alkaloids produced by precursor directed biosynthesis. Representative alkaloid analogs for the major C. roseus alkaloids were produced and isolated from C. roseus cultures. The specific alkaloid analogs produced depends on the position of the modification on the tryptamine and the steric and electronic properties of the substitution. Detailed alkaloid metabolite analysis revealed bottlenecks for the production of specific alkaloids, representing the substrate specificity of enzymes which have not been examined on an enzymatic or genetic level. Furthermore, since the enzymes catalyzing the late steps in the biosynthesis of alkaloids are not known, photo-reactive tryptamine analogs and secologanin analogs containing a bio-orthogonal tag were combined to form a bifunctional probe, used to label and identify C. roseus biosynthetic enzymes in cell free extracts. The probe labeled several enzymes with the proposed biological activity necessary for the bio-transformations catalyzed in vivo. by Elizabeth Ann McCoy. Ph.D. 2009-08-26T17:12:38Z 2009-08-26T17:12:38Z 2009 2009 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46650 426938388 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 396 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Chemistry.
McCoy, Elizabeth Ann, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title_full Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title_fullStr Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title_full_unstemmed Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title_short Substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus
title_sort substrate analogs to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in catharanthus roseus
topic Chemistry.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/46650
work_keys_str_mv AT mccoyelizabethannphdmassachusettsinstituteoftechnology substrateanalogstoinvestigatealkaloidbiosynthesisincatharanthusroseus