3.3 Biosynthesis of Steroid Glycosides
Biotransformation of steroids and cardiac glycosides (e.g., gitoxin, digitoxin) by plant cell cultures have been studied extensively and have been reviewed by Reinhard* (1974), Stohs and Rosenberg** (1975), Stohs*** (1977), and Furuya**** (1978).
However, in general the steroidal aglycones of cardioactive glycosides may be assumed to have formed as a broad based overall mechanism of steroid biogenesis as shown below:
Acetate -> Mevalonate -> Isopentenyl Pyrophosphate -> Squalene æÆSteroid
The steroidal molecule is considered to have generated with the head to tail linkage of several acetate units.
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* Reinhard, E., In Tissue Culture and Plant Science—1974, (H.E. Street Ed.), Academic Press, New York, pp.
433-459, 1974.
** Stohs S.J., and H. Rosenburg., Lloydia, 38, 181-194, 1975.
*** Stohs, S.J., ‘In plant Tissue Culture and its Biotechnological Applications’, (W. Barz, E. Reinhard and M.H.
Zenk, eds), Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 142-150, 1977.
**** Fuarya, T., In ‘Frontiers of Plant Tissue Culture’, (T.a. Thorpe-ed.) The Boostore, University of Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, pp. 191-200, 1978.
