2013/05/31 by Adam M. Takos, Fred Rook · 2 citations
Chemistry · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Medicine · #Chemical synthesis and alkaloids #Alkaloids: synthesis and pharmacology #Botanical Research and Applications #Amaryllidaceae #Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids #Alkaloid #Lycorine #Biology #Botany #Phytochemical #Traditional medicine #Medicine
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/ijms140611713
openalex publication_date 2013/05/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
The alkaloids characteristically produced by the subfamily Amaryllidoideae of the Amaryllidaceae, bulbous plant species that include well know genera such as Narcissus (daffodils) and Galanthus (snowdrops), are a source of new pharmaceutical compounds. Presently, only the Amaryllidaceae alkaloid galanthamine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor used to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, is produced commercially as a drug from cultivated plants. However, several Amaryllidaceae alkaloids have shown great promise as anti-cancer drugs, but their further clinical development is restricted by their limited commercial availability. Amaryllidaceae species have a long history of cultivation and breeding as ornamental bulbs, and phytochemical research has focussed on the diversity in alkaloid content and composition. In contrast to the available pharmacological and phytochemical data, ecological, physiological and molecular aspects of the Amaryllidaceae and their alkaloids are much less explored and the identity of the alkaloid biosynthetic genes is presently unknown. An improved molecular understanding of Amaryllidaceae alkaloid biosynthesis would greatly benefit the rational design of breeding programs to produce cultivars optimised for the production of pharmaceutical compounds and enable biotechnology based approaches.