Catharanthus roseus : Current Research and Future Prospects

This book studies the production of indole alkaloids in the important medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, commonly known as periwinkle. The anticancer alkaloids, viz. vinblastine and vincristine, are mainly present in the leaves of C. roseus and inhibit the growth of cancer cells by hindering the formation of mitotic apparatus during cell division. Further, vinblastine helps increase the chance of surviving childhood leukemia while vincristine is used to treat Hodgkin’s disease. Great efforts have been made to produce these alkaloids at a large scale by the culture of plant cells. In view of this worldwide demand for commercial use, this book explores how to maximize the production of anticancer alkaloids from C. roseus. This reference book will be helpful for research students, teachers, ethnobotanists, pharmacologists and herbal growers who have a strong interest in this anticancer medicinal plant of paramount importance.

Dr. M. Naeem is a Postdoctoral Fellow (Young Scientist) in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India. For more than a decade, he has devoted his research to improving the yield and quality of commercially important medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs). His research focuses on escalating the production of MAPs and their active principles using a novel and safe technique involving radiation-processed polysaccharides as well as the application of potent PGRs. To date, he has successfully run three major research projects as Principal Investigator, two of which were sanctioned by the Department of Science & Technology, New Delhi. He also completed another intriguing research project on Catharanthus roseus awarded by CSTUP, Lucknow. Dr. Naeem has published more than 75 research papers in reputable national and international journals as well as six books. He has also participated in various national and international conferences and acquired life memberships to various scientific bodies in India and abroad. Based on his research contributions, Dr. Naeem has been awarded a Research Associateship from the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi; a Young Scientist Award (2011) from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh; a Fast Track-Young Scientist Award from the Department of Science & Technology, India; a Young Scientist of the Year Award (2015) from the Scientific and Environmental Research Institute, Kolkata; and a Rashtriya Gaurav Award (2016) from the International Friendship Society, New Delhi.

Tariq Aftab received his Ph.D. in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India, and is currently an Assistant Professor there. He is the recipient of a prestigious Leibniz-DAAD fellowship from Germany, a Raman Fellowship from the Government of India, and Young Scientist Awards from the State Government of Uttar Pradesh and Government of India. He is also a member of various scientific associations from India and abroad. He has worked as Visiting Scientist at IPK, Gaterleben, Germany and in the Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, USA. He has published research articles in several peer-reviewed national and international journals and is the lead editor of the book Artemisia annua: Pharmacology and Biotechnology. His research interests include physiological, proteomic, and molecular studies on medicinal and aromatic plants.

Prof. M. Masroor A. Khan is a professor in the Department of Botany at Aligarh Muslim University, India. After completing his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Ohio State University, USA (1987-88). Then he worked as Pool Scientist for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and a Research Associate for CSIR and the University Grants Commission before he joined AMU as an Assistant Professor. In his 30 years of teaching experience at the university level, he has guided 8 Ph.D., 2 M.Phil., and 27 M.Sc. students. For the convenience of his students, he has also developed study materials and launched more than 100 class notes and PowerPoint presentations on his website. Prof. Khan has run six research projects sponsored by national and international funding agencies and has published more than one hundred research papers in reputable journals and books. In his research, Prof. Khan is working to promote the productivity and active ingredients of medicinal and aromatic plants using different strategies such as the application of mineral nutrition, PGRs, and nanoparticles. Prof. Khan has contributed greatly towards the establishment of Radiation-Processed Polysaccharides (RPPs) as plant growth promoters. In collaboration with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, he is researching the appropriate doses of RPPs that would help farmers increase the productivity of medicinal and aromatic plants and their active constituents. Another field of his research is nanoparticles, some of which he has found can enhance the essential oil production of some aromatic plants. He has also filed a patent in this regard.