Measurement and Analysis of Important Alkaloids and Related Gene Expression in Catharanthus roseus

The contents of three important terpenoid indole alkaloids(TIAs)including vindoline,catharanthine and vinblastine in 23 Catharanthus roseus varieties were measured by Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography(RP-HPLC).It was found that the contents of the three alkaloids varied along with the different varieties.Correlation analysis indicated that among the three alkaloids,vindoline and vinblastine contents were correlated at very significant level(P0.01).RT-PCR was used to analyze the expression of geraniol 10-hydroxylase gene(g10h)and strictosidine synthase gene(str)in C.roseus varieties with distinct alkaloids contents,and the results,together with the alkaloids content data analysis,showed that the expression of g10h and str was correlated with the combined contents of vindoline and vinblastine at significant level(P0.01),indicating that g10h and str genes could be the reference gene markers for vindoline and vinblastine contents in C.roseus.This study is useful for developing high-TIAs content varieties and metabolic engineering of TIAs in C.roseus.