Present status of Catharanthus roseus monoterpenoid indole alkaloids engineering in homo- and hetero-logous systems

Catharanthus roseus synthesizes one of the most structurally, chemically and biologically active phytomolecules monoterpenoids indole alkaloids (MIAs) with having a wide range of pharmaceutical activities. Being the sole source of antineoplastic MIAs vinblastine and vincristine C. roseus has become one of the most valued plant. The low in planta availability of these MIAs and unavailability of alternative chemical synthesis system has enhanced their demand and equally let to the exorbitant market cost. To bridge this gap alternative production systems have been investigated using MIAs metabolic engineering (ME) in the homologous and heterologous systems. The availability of improved recombinant technologies along with genomics and metabolomics tools has opened the door of tremendous new potentials of ME. To encash these potentials of ME for MIAs pathway, efforts were made by expressing constitutive structure biosynthesis enzymes, transporters, and transcription factors of C. roseus MIAs biosynthesis in both homologous and heterologous systems. Here we review the knowledge of C. roseus MIAs pathway metabolic engineering in homologous and heterologous systems, gained in the past 35 years of C. roseus research.