Biotechnology and genetic engineering for alkaloid production

Alkaloids are a diverse group of complex organic molecules found in about 20%of plant species in small quantities. Their potent biological activity has led to their exploitation as pharmaceuticals, stimulants, narcotics, and poisons. Despite their importance, inefficiency of extracting alkaloids from a myriad of other metabolites remains a significant barrier toward inexpensive bioprospecting for drug development. Furthermore, the yield is inconsistent in the natural resource due to heavy dependence on genetic and geographical diversity and also on climatic conditions. Chemical synthesis has been successful for the class of indole alkaloids. However, it is still a challenge and also impractical on industrial scale to construct other commercially important class of alkaloids. In lieu of the given limitations, plant cell/tissue cultures serve as alternative production platforms in which the biosynthesis of alkaloids has been improved through various elicitation and culture manipulation strategies. In addition, recent advances made in metabolic engineering and systems biology now have the potential to more effectively maximize the alkaloid biosynthesis in such in vitro production systems. In this respect, the chapter provides information regarding recent advancements made in bioprocessing and genetic engineering of cellular systems for large-scale alkaloid production.