Genetic modification using Agrobacterium rhizogenes has been an important biotechnological tool for the improvement of secondary metabolite production in plant species over the past four decades. The tropical vine Pentalinon andrieuxii, a native plant from the Yucatán Peninsula, is known to produce the triterpene betulinic acid and the novel tri-nor-sesquiterpene urechitol A and is used in the Mayan traditional medicine to treat leishmaniasis-derived lesions. Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain ATCC 15834 was used to infect leaf and hypocotyl explants of P. andrieuxii to generate 14 transformed plant lines with increased production of the terpenoids betulinic acid and urechitol A. Insertion of the transgenes was confirmed through PCR amplification of the rolA, rolB, and rolC genes. Betulinic acid and urechitol A were detected and quantified using standardized high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography analyses, respectively. A significant increase in the terpenoid content was observed in some of the transgenic plants with up to 11.37 and 3.35 times more betulinic acid and urechitol A, respectively, when compared with the wild-type control. These new transgenic lines are promising tools to further the studies and knowledge about the biosynthesis of terpenoids in P. andrieuxii, especially regarding the biosynthetic origin of the rare urechitols.

在过去的四十年中，使用发根农杆菌进行的遗传修饰已成为改善植物物种次生代谢产物生产的重要生物技术工具。热带葡萄藤Pentalinon andrieuxii是Yucatán半岛的本地植物，已知会产生三萜品桦木酸和新型的tri-nor-倍半萜烯urechitol A，并在玛雅传统医学中用于治疗利什曼病的病变。发根农杆菌菌株ATCC 15834被用于感染安氏疟原虫的叶和下胚轴外植体产生14种转化的植物系，并增加了萜类化合物桦木酸和urechitol A的产量。通过PCR扩增rolA，rolB和rolC基因，证实了转基因的插入。使用标准的高效液相色谱和气相色谱分析分别检测和定量了桦木酸和尿素醇A。与野生型对照相比，在一些转基因植物中观察到萜类化合物含量显着增加，其中白果酸和尿素醇A的含量分别高出11.37和3.35倍。这些新的转基因品系是有前途的工具，可用于进一步研究和了解安氏疟原虫中萜类化合物的生物合成知识。，尤其是关于稀有的urechitols的生物合成来源。