Alginate elicitors and PDase production in Madagascar periwinkle
Keeping things scientific for the Science week over at JustScience (did I just say science 3 or 4 times?), here’s my quick overview of a paper titled “Preparation of mixed alginate elicitors with high activity for the efficient production of 5′-phosphodiesterase by Catharanthus roseus cells” by Hideki Aoyagi, Chiharu Akimoto-Tomiyama and Hideo Tanak.
The Catharanthus roseus, also known as the Madagascar periwinkle or Rose periwinkle, can produce an enzyme called 5′-phosphodiesterase (PDase) that can degrade RNA to nucleoside-5′-monophosphates. The production of this enzyme is shown to be possible and rather viable through the use of elicitors, both endogenous and exogenous.
Elicitors usually activate some type of response from the cells such as the production of metabolites defensive or not. These responses can help recover the product we are trying to produce inside the cell without having to disrupt them.
The paper demonstrates various combinations of elicitors and microorganisms and presents the best results using a medium added with alginate and a microorganism capable of degrading the alginate, therefore making it possible to obtain the PDase later on.
These mixed alginate elicitors used in this paper could potencially be used to produce useful metabolites other than PDase, in medicinal plants. Therefore the mixed alginate elicitors present themselves as great tools for future studies.
For more information on this paper, nothing like reading the original publication.
[Image from Wikipedia.org]
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