De novo transcriptome analysis of Alstonia scholaris for decoding indole alkaloids biosynthetic genes involved in pathway. Alstonia scholaris

Alstonia scholaris is commonly known as Saptaparni. Due to a distinctive class of bioactive compounds known as indole alkaloids that this plant produces especially echitamine, which is the marker compound of this plant, it is believed to have therapeutic benefits. The aqueous extract of Alstonia scholaris bark is one of the components of AYUSH 64, a polyherbal medicine intended to treat covid19 infection. Using transcriptome approach, we aim to discover genes involved in echitamine production and elucidate a probable biosynthetic pathway. For the study, control and 200 mM mannitol treated samples were harvested and frozen in liquid nitrogen for RNA isolation.