Amaryllidaceae alkaloid (AAs) biosynthesis has garnered significant attention in recent years, particularly with the commercialisation of galanthamine as a treatment for the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. A significant amount of research work over the last 8 decades has focused on the understanding of AA biosynthesis, starting from early radiolabelling studies to recent multi-omics analysis with modern biotechnological advancements. Those studies enabled the identification of hundreds of metabolites, the characterisation of biochemical pathway, an understanding of the environmental stimuli, and of the molecular regulation of these pharmaceutically and agriculturally important metabolites. Despite the numerous works there remain significant gaps in understanding their biosynthesis in Amaryllidaceae plants. As such, further research is needed to fully elucidate the metabolic pathway and facilitate their production. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overall summary of the current state of knowledge on AAs biosynthesis, from elicitation of transcription factors expression in the cell nucleus to alkaloid transport in the apoplast, and to highlight the challenges that need to be overcome for further advancement.
Keywords: in vitro culture; Amaryllidaceae alkaloids; Amaryllidoideae; biosynthesis; galanthamine; isoquinoline alkaloids; multi-omic database; norbelladine; omics; specialised metabolites.
© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.