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Future Prospects for Research on Catharanthus roseus

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The Catharanthus Genome

Part of the book series: Compendium of Plant Genomes ((CPG))

Abstract

Catharanthus roseus represents a reservoir of over 130 medicinally important alkaloids, many of which are currently in therapeutic use. It is one of the most extensively investigated medicinal plants and has acquired the status of a model non-model plant due to many decades of active research conducted upon it by various groups across the globe. Nevertheless, the plant still remains an enigma due to gaps in the understanding of the biosynthesis of pharmacologically important terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) coupled with extremely low content of the potent anticancer bisindole alkaloids, vincristine and vinblastine. Genomic and transcriptomic resources have been generated for the plant, but their full exploitation is yet to be achieved. This chapter will provide an overview of the research potential with respect to C. roseus and also elaborate upon the future prospects for research on the plant in terms of the gaps to be filled.

Maneesha Mall, Pooja Singh, and Seema Yadav have made equal contribution as first author

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Director, CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow, for encouragement and research facilities. The authors’ research is supported through a grant (CRG/2020/002970) from the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India. Maneesha Mall and Pooja Singh thank UGC, India for their fellowships, and Seema Yadav thanks CSIR, India for her fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, P.O. CIMAP, Lucknow, 226015, India

    Maneesha Mall, Pooja Singh, Seema Yadav, Daya N. Mani, Ajit K. Shasany & Ashutosh K. Shukla

  2. CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Centre, Allalasandra, GKVK Post, Bengaluru, 560065, India

    Velusamy Sundaresan

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  1. Maneesha Mall
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  2. Pooja Singh
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  3. Seema Yadav
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  4. Velusamy Sundaresan
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  5. Daya N. Mani
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  6. Ajit K. Shasany
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  7. Ashutosh K. Shukla
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Correspondence to Ashutosh K. Shukla .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Raja Ramanna Fellow, Department of Atomic Energy Government of India, ICAR-National Institute for Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India

    Chittaranjan Kole

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Mall, M. et al. (2022). Future Prospects for Research on Catharanthus roseus. In: Kole, C. (eds) The Catharanthus Genome . Compendium of Plant Genomes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89269-2_10

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