Production of vitamin D compounds in plants: Biotechnological implications.Metabolic Engineering and Molecular Farming-I . Vol. 7

LORENA MILANESI; ANDREA VASCONSUELO; GASTÓN STOCKMAN; RICARDO BOLAND

Plant Genetic Engineering

Studium Press, LLC

Lugar: Houston, Texas; Año: 2005; p. 189 - 223

Abstract 1a,25(OH)2D3, the pluripotent hormone, plays in animals a role in mineral homeostasis, regulation of cell growth and differentiation, muscle intracellular Ca+ levels and contractility; vascular, endocrine and reproductive functions and immunomodulation. Various flowering plants have been shown to contain vitamin D3 and related metabolites as 1a,25(OH)2D3 detected by high specific and sensitive biological and chemical procedures. On the basis of recent cladistic analysis it is possible to predict that presence of these compounds is a characteristic of all Angiosperms. In some plants species, were 1a,25(OH)2D3 have been found, the metabolite was distributed among the plant body as free steroid or glycoside derivative. The presence of 7-dehydrocholesterol in S. glaucophyllum and other plant species has been demonstrated; opening the possibility of a metabolic pathway for vitamin D3 in plants similar to that known for vertebrates.  However evidence obtained with S. glaucophyllum and Nicotiana glauca supports the operation of a non-photolytic reaction for vitamin D3 synthesis. Recent studies employing radioactive precursors, protein immunoblot and Northern blots suggest the presence of specific hydroxylases for vitamin D3 and 25(OH)D3 structurally related to those present in vertebrates, detected in cell and tissue plant cultures. Studies with in vitro plant systems have shown a functional role of vitamin D3 compounds in cell growth, tissue differentiation, DNA and protein synthesis and Ca 2+ uptake. Also, in some plant species, vitamin D3 and 1a,25(OH)2D3 binding proteins were detected suggesting a regulatory function of the steroid hormone against the plant body. All this knowledge could allow develop biotechnological tools to use plant kingdom as source of vitamin D.