Abstract

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) is the source of terpenoid indole alkaloids which are minor products in the plants, making their isolation elaborate and costly. The low yield of the alkaloids in the plant combined with their high market price made Catharanthus roseus an important model system for plant biotechnology and secondary metabolism studies. This study highlights the responses of Catharanthus roseus due to metal stress under pot culture conditions. It was observed that metals like zinc and copper showed a positive effect on accumulation of few secondary metabolites in Catharanthus roseus. Accumulation of total alkaloids, phenolics and flavonoids in the plants were observed to increase with increasing concentrations of these metal treatments given to growing plants. Similarly, plants grown in industrially contaminated soils also showed varying alkaloid, phenolics and flavonoid accumulation in comparison to those grown in garden soil. Higher metal contaminations in the soil lead to higher production of certain phytochemicals in different plant parts.

摘要

长春花（马达加斯加长春花）是萜类吲哚生物碱的来源，它们是植物中的次要产品，因此分离过程复杂且成本高昂。植物中生物碱的低产量加上其高昂的市场价格使长春花成为植物生物技术和次生代谢研究的重要模型系统。本研究强调了长春花在盆栽条件下对金属胁迫的反应。据观察，锌和铜等金属对长春花中少量次生代谢物的积累有积极影响. 观察到植物中总生物碱、酚类和黄酮类化合物的积累随着给予生长植物的这些金属处理浓度的增加而增加。同样，与在花园土壤中生长的植物相比，在工业污染土壤中生长的植物也显示出不同的生物碱、酚类和黄酮类物质积累。土壤中较高的金属污染导致植物不同部位产生较高的某些植物化学物质。