Pharmacognosy & Metabolic Engineering

By Prof. Adinpunya Mitra | IIT Kharagpur

Learners enrolled: 1346 | Exam registration: 375

ABOUT THE COURSE:
Pharmacognosy broadly covers the study of medicinal plants. Through diverse specialized pathways plants produce a wealth of phytochemicals often termed as natural products or specialized metabolites, many of which are useful to us as drugs, dye, flavouring agents, and nutraceuticals. Advances in our understanding of the biosynthetic pathways ledto cloning of genes encoding many of the important biosynthetic enzymes of these complex pathways.It may now be possible to design strategies to alter biosynthetic routes leading to enhanced production of desired products of pharmaceutical importance. This has been termed as metabolic engineering. This course provides knowledge about the various types of specialized metabolites such as alkaloids, phenolics and terpenoids that are synthesized by plants through specific metabolic pathways.The principal focus would be on the biotechnological approaches that can be used to increase or manipulate the production of these commercially important compounds mainly through the application of metabolic engineering strategies.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: PG students of Biotechnology, Agriculture, Botany, Biochemistry and UG Biotechnology.

PREREQUISITES: Knowledge of basic biology and chemistry at 10+2 level. Appropriate basic background knowledge will be imparted while introducing each thematic topic.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Dabur, Himalaya, Patanjali are industries that make herbal products will recognize this course.

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Biological Sciences & Bioengineering Bioprocesses
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	22 Jan 2024
End Date :	12 Apr 2024
Enrollment Ends :	05 Feb 2024
Exam Registration Ends :	16 Feb 2024
Exam Date :	21 Apr 2024 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:

Medicinal and aromatic plants.

Origin and Evolution of plant specialized metabolism.

Eliciting specialized metabolism in plant cell and organ culture.

Week 2:
Different strategies of metabolic engineering. Genetic transformation for manipulation of plant specialized metabolism.

Week 3:

Introduction to alkaloids.

Engineering tropane alkaloid pathways in plants.

Week 4:
Engineering morphine and purine alkaloid pathways.

Week 5:
Biosynthesis and genetic manipulation of indole alkaloid pathways. Metabolic reprogramming for non-natural indole alkaloids in plants.

Week 6:

Discovery of new alkaloid pathways in plants (strychnine and colchicine).

Terpenoid metabolism and pathway manipulation.

Week 7:
Genetic manipulation of carotenoid pathway. Emission biology of terpenoid floral volatiles.

Week 8:
Biotechnological intervention for production of complex terpenes viz. hyperforin and taxol.

Week 9:
Biochemistry of phenylpropanoid/benzenoid metabolism. Pathway manipulation for reduction of lignin content and composition.

Week 10:

Biochemistry and cell biology of anthocyanin formation in flowers.

Manipulation of anthocyanin pathways and creation of blue rose.

Week 11:

Biochemistry of tea polyphenols. Biosynthesis of phenolic alcohols and esters.

Pathway manipulation for production of phenolic esters.

Week 12:
Metabolic engineering for vanillin biosynthesis. Genetic engineering of shikonin pathway. Molecular pharming for human somatotropin production in transplastomic plants.

Books and references

1. Trease & Evans’, Pharmacognosy
2. Buchanan et al. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of Plants
3. Walton & Brown, Chemicals from Plants
4. Bosher & Tobins, Plant Biochemistry

Instructor bio

Prof. Adinpunya Mitra

IIT Kharagpur

Prof. Adinpunya Mitra from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur is a plant biologist & biotechnologist by training and a specialist in plant specialized metabolism. An alumnus of Burdwan University and IIT Kharagpur, he did his doctoral research at Norwich-based BBSRC Institute of Food Research (PhD from University of East Anglia, England) and post-doctoral work at Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany).
Prof Mitra is teaching several subjects at postgraduate level including Pharmacognosy & Metabolic Engineering, Advanced Plant Physiology and Crop Biotechnology for more than 20 years at IIT Kharagpur both at AGFE and Biotechnology Departments.
Prof Mitra's current research focused in the field of plant volatiles aiming at understanding the holistic biology of volatile fragrance synthesis, accumulation and emission from different plant organs including flowers of commercial importance. He has published more than 90 papers in recognized international journals and so far, 18 students have been obtained PhD degrees working with him. He has been successful in obtaining 21 external research grants from several national and international funding agencies of a total value of INR 7.0 crores.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: 21 April 2024 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kharagpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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