Can we harness a plant’s ability to synthesize medicinal compounds?

Anthraquinones are a class of natural compounds valued for their medicinal properties, as well as for other applications, including environmentally friendly dyes. Despite widespread interest, the mechanism by which plants produce them has remained shrouded in mystery until now.

New work from an international team of scientists, including Sue Rhee of Carnegie, reveals a gene responsible for the synthesis of anthraquinone in plants. Their findings could help scientists cultivate a plant-based mechanism to harvest these useful compounds in large quantities.

“Senna Tora is a legume with anthraquinone-based medicinal properties that have long been recognized in ancient Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions, including antimicrobial and antiparasitic benefits, as well as prevention of diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, ”explained Rhee.

Despite its many practical applications, genomic studies Senna were limited. So, led by Sang-Ho Kang of the Korea National Institute of Agricultural Sciences and Ramesh Prasad Pandey of Sun Moon University and MIT, the research team used a range of sophisticated genetic and biochemical approaches to identify the first known enzyme to form anthranoids in plants. .

“Now that we have established the first step of the ladder, we can act quickly to elucidate the set of genes involved in anthraquinone synthesis,” said lead author Kang.

Once the process by which plants make these important compounds is fully understood, this knowledge can be used to design a plant to produce high concentrations of anthraquinones that can be used medicinally.

“The same techniques that we use to help improve crop yields for agricultural crops or biofuels can also be applied to developing sustainable production methods for herbal medicines,” Rhee concluded.