Project description:INTRODUCTION:Steroidal alkaloids are found in plants of the genus Veratrum. Their toxicity manifests as gastrointestinal symptoms followed by a Bezold-Jarisch reflex: hypopnea, hypotension, and bradycardia. Some Veratrum steroidal alkaloids are also teratogens interfering with the hedgehog-2 signaling pathway, which causes cyclopsia and holoprosencephaly. We present a case of accidental poisoning from Veratrum parviflorum mistaken for the edible Allium tricoccum (ramps, wild leek). CASE HISTORY:A 27-year-old man and his 25-year-old wife presented to the emergency department with nausea, vomiting, hypotension, and bradycardia after foraging and ingesting plants that they believed to be a local native species of wild leek. METHODS:We collected and analyzed the implicated fresh plant material and both patients' serum/plasma. We used liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy and high-resolution electrospray ionization time of flight tandem mass spectrometry to extract and characterize steroidal alkaloids from the foraged plant and patients' serum. RESULTS:Our V. parviflorum samples contained verazine, veratramine, veratridine, and cyclopamine. DISCUSSION:Steroidal alkaloids have been previously isolated from Veratrum viride and Veratrum album and toxicity has been reported mainly from V. album species. CONCLUSION:V. parviflorum toxicity manifests with gastrointestinal and cardiac symptoms. Treatment is symptomatic and supportive as with previous case reports of toxicity with other Veratrum species.
Project description:Veratrum spp. grow throughout the world and are especially prevalent in high mountain meadows of North America. All parts of Veratrum plants have been used for the treatment of ailments including injuries, hypertension, and rheumatic pain since as far back as the 1600s. Of the 17-45 Veratrum spp., Veratrum californicum alkaloids have been proven to possess favorable medicinal properties associated with inhibition of hedgehog (Hh) pathway signaling. Aberrant Hh signaling leads to proliferation of over 20 cancers, including basal cell carcinoma, prostate and colon among others. Six of the most well-studied V. californicum alkaloids are cyclopamine (1), veratramine (2), isorubijervine (3), muldamine (4), cycloposine (5), and veratrosine (6). Recent inspection of the ethanolic extract from V. californicum root and rhizome via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry has detected up to five additional alkaloids that are proposed to be verazine (7), etioline (8), tetrahydrojervine (9), dihydrojervine (10), 22-keto-26-aminocholesterol (11). For each alkaloid identified or proposed in V. californicum, this review surveys literature precedents for extraction methods, isolation, identification, characterization and bioactivity to guide natural product drug discovery associated with this medicinal plant.
Project description:The Veratrum alkaloids are a class of highly intricate natural products renowned for their complex structural and stereochemical characteristics, which underlie a diverse array of pharmacological activities ranging from anti-hypertensive properties to antimicrobial effects. These properties have generated substantial interest among both synthetic chemists and biologists. While numerous advancements have been made in the synthesis of jervanine and veratramine subtypes over the past 50 years, the total synthesis of highly oxidized cevanine subtypes has remained relatively scarce. Building on the efficiency of our previously developed strategy for constructing the hexacyclic carbon skeleton of the Veratrum alkaloid family via a stereoselective intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction and radical cyclization, here we show the development of a unified synthetic approach to access highly oxidized Veratrum alkaloids. This includes the total synthesis of (-)-zygadenine, (-)-germine, (-)-protoverine and the alkamine of veramadine A, by capitalizing on a meticulously designed sequence of redox manipulations and a late-stage neighboring-group participation strategy.
Project description:Veratrum (Melanthiaceae; Liliales) is a genus of perennial herbs known for the production of unique bioactive steroidal alkaloids. However, the biosynthesis of these compounds is incompletely understood because many of the downstream enzymatic steps have yet to be resolved. RNA-Seq is a powerful method that can be used to identify candidate genes involved in metabolic pathways by comparing the transcriptomes of metabolically active tissues to controls lacking the pathway of interest. The root and leaf transcriptomes of wild Veratrum maackii and Veratrum nigrum plants were sequenced and 437,820 clean reads were assembled into 203,912 unigenes, 47.67% of which were annotated. We identified 235 differentially expressed unigenes potentially involved in the synthesis of steroidal alkaloids. Twenty unigenes, including new candidate cytochrome P450 monooxygenases and transcription factors, were selected for validation by quantitative real-time PCR. Most candidate genes were expressed at higher levels in roots than leaves but showed a consistent profile across both species. Among the 20 unigenes putatively involved in the synthesis of steroidal alkaloids, 14 were already known. We identified three new CYP450 candidates (CYP76A2, CYP76B6 and CYP76AH1) and three new transcription factor candidates (ERF1A, bHLH13 and bHLH66). We propose that ERF1A, CYP90G1-1 and CYP76AH1 are specifically involved in the key steps of steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis in V. maackii roots. Our data represent the first cross-species analysis of steroidal alkaloid biosynthesis in the genus Veratrum and indicate that the metabolic properties of V. maackii and V. nigrum are broadly conserved despite their distinct alkaloid profiles.
| S-EPMC10200796 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Veratrum mengtzeanum transcriptome data