Transcriptome mapping reveals candidate genes for colchicine metabolism in Gloriosa superba and Colchicum autumnale

21^st Annual European Pharma Congress

May 20-22, 2019 | Zurich, Switzerland

Ganapathy Sivakumar and John Samuel Bass

University of Houston, USA

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Pharmaceut Reg Affairs

Abstract :

Therapeutic use of plant-based colchicine has increased in the medical sector because it is a potential alkaloidbased and FDA approved drug, which is biosynthesized by Gloriosa superba L. and Colchicum autumnale L. However, the biosynthesis of colchicine metabolism is not well characterized and continues to be a barrier to biomanufacturing this biomedicine. To understand the enzymes involved in the colchicine pathway, a comparative transcriptome mapping of G. superba and C. autumnale has been carried out, which could help to improve colchicine biomanufacturing through metabolic engineering or synthetic biotechnology. Transcriptome analysis using Blast2GO revealed candidate colchicine biosynthetic genes from G. superba and C. autumnale including N-methyltransferase, P450s, O-methyltransferase and N-acetyltransferase.

Biography :

Ganapathy Sivakumar's research is primarily focused on biomanufacturing and biotech implications of biopharmaceuticals. He has extensively studied the plantbased small molecules pathway biochemistry, synthetic biotechnology and metabolic & bioprocess engineering. He is internationally recognized in the field of biopharmaceuticals and a pioneer in biomanufacturing of biorhizome-based colchicine. He has over 50 publications. He is also on the editorial board of several journals. He serves as an expert of grant proposals as well as numerous scientific journals. His laboratory focuses on metabolic and bioprocess engineering of colchicine pathway and developing potential anticancer medicine.