Catharanthine is a terpene indole alkaloid produced by the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus. Catharanthine is derived from strictosidine, but the exact mechanism by which this happens is currently unknown. Catharanthine is one of the two precursors that form vinblastine, the other being vindoline. chlorophyll content in leaves was higher under red films than that under fluorescent light on the first 30 d,and the chlorophyll content under red films decreased significantly after 3 d(P0.05).The ratio of chlorophyll a/b was lower than control.The content of vindoline(VIN)and catharanthine(CAT)firstly increased a little and then decreased compared with control.The content of vinblastine(VBL),as a coupling product of VIN and CAT increased gradually and reached the highest on the 15th day(0.028 0±0.005 1)mg/g in shade culture.
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