Catharanthus Roseus and Prospects of Its Endophytes: a New Avenue for Production of Bioactive Metabolites

Catharanthus roseus is a medicinal herb found in many tropical and subtropical regions around the world. This plant produces a diverse array of secondary metabolites that are pharmaceutically important like vinblastine and vincristine used as chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of several types of cancers. Low yield of these vinca alkaloids from the plant in vivo and the challenges to meet their high demand worldwide led researchers to develop various in vitro techniques like hairy root culture, callus cultures, shoot cultures, metabolic engineering and regulation studies to increase their production. The present review gives an account of the various phytochemicals derived from the plant and the pharmacological aspects of secondary metabolites studied. Present review also highlights the biotechnological prospects of an efficient and alternative means of production of valuable metabolites from Catharanthus roseus and also from rich microflora residing inside the plant tissues. It gives an emphasis on the need of exploration of diverse niches of endophytes. INTRODUCTION: Catharanthus roseus is a medicinal plant belongs to the family Apocynaceae native and endemic to Madagascar. The plant is also known by the names such as Vinca rosea, Ammocallis rosea and Lochnera rosea. The plant has been put to traditional use for the treatment of a wide variety of ailments worldwide since ages 1 . The plant bears active phytoconstituents and exhibits various pharmacological activities like antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, antimicrobial, cytotoxic etc. Catharanthus roseus produces a spectrum of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) vinblastine and vincristine, the anticancer lead