International Journal of Science, Engineering and TechnologyAuthors: Guest Faculty Suresh Kumar
Abstract: – Medicinal plants remain a cornerstone of drug discovery, yet many endemic species harboring unique bioactive compounds are underexplored (Li et al. 2022). Traditional single-omics studies often overlook synergistic insights into metabolite biosynthesis and regulation; integrating metabolomics and transcriptomics can overcome these limitations by linking chemical profiles with gene expression patterns (Zeng et al. 2022). This study aims to dissect the metabolome and transcriptome of selected endemic medicinal plants—chosen for their ethnobotanical relevance in the Himalaya and Western Rajasthan—to identify novel biosynthetic pathways for next-generation therapeutics. Leaf and root tissues will undergo ^1H NMR and LC-MS/MS profiling to quantify diterpenes, flavonoids, and saponins across developmental stages (Tajidin et al. 2019; Srivastava et al. 2006). Parallel RNA-seq analysis will generate de novo transcriptomes, enabling annotation of gene families involved in secondary metabolism (Garg et al. 2015). Integrated data analysis will correlate metabolite abundance with differential gene expression, reconstructing candidate biosynthetic gene clusters. We anticipate uncovering key enzyme-encoding genes and metabolite signatures with high pharmacological potential. By mapping these multi-omics findings onto existing biosynthetic frameworks, this work will provide actionable targets for bioengineering and functional validation, accelerating the translation of endemic plant resources into drug leads.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15827479
