REVIEW ARTICLE Ophiorrhiza, a promising herbaceous source of the anticancer compound camptothecin Krishnakumar G * , Dintu K P, Sibi C Varghese, Deepthi S Nair, Geethu Gopinath, Rameshkumar K B, Satheeshkumar K & Krishnan P N Jawaharlal Nehru Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute, Palode, Thiruvananthapuram 695 562, Kerala, India *Email: krishnakumargu@gmail.com ARTIC LE HISTORY Received: 18 November 2019 Accepted: 13 January 2020 Published: 02 May 2020 KEYWORDS medicinal value traditonal uses biological actvites bioproducton ABSTRACT Camptothecin is an important source for the synthesis of some of the major anti-cancer agents such as irinotecan and topotecan. Traditional source of camptothecin are prominently woody plants such as Camptotheca acuminata Decne. and Nothopodytes nimmoniana (Graham) Mabb., and the increasing demand for camptothecin leads to the level of threatening their existence. Ophiorrhiza species composed of herbaceous plants with quick growth characteristics which are reported as alternative source of camptothecin. The present review focus on taxonomical status, traditional uses, biological activities and phytochemical constituents with a special attention in bioproduction of camptothecin from Ophiorrhiza species and its future prospects. Introducton Medicinal plants and their associated active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) are of much interest to the scientific and clinical researchers, not only because they are inexpensive but also due to minimal side effects compared to synthetic drugs (1). Some of the conventional drugs of plant origin include anti- malarial drug quinine from Cinchona sp. (2), anti- cancer drugs taxol from Taxus brevifolia Nutt. (3), vincristine and vinblastine from Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don. (4, 5), camptothecin from Camptotheca acuminata (6) and Ophiorrhiza spp. (7). The Southern western Ghats of India are endowed with rare and yet unknown species of plants and is counted among the top 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Many of the plants from the region, which are yet to be phytochemically characterized, have tremendous potential in therapeutic uses. Western Ghats region is considered as a rich repository of Ophiorrhiza species (8, 9). Ophiorrhiza species are traditionally known as snake root because of its healing property against snake bite. Root of O. mungos and O. japonica are also traditionally used against snake bite, tumours and poisonous wounds. It also possesses anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-ulcer, anti-helminthic and anti-venom properties (10). The presence of camptothecin (CPT), a high value bioactive indole alkaloid endows anticancer property to this genus. Camptothecin and its derivatives were originally isolated from C. acuminata (6). Despite its increasing demand, camptothecin is still produced unsustainably by harvesting intact plants, mainly C. acuminata and N. nimmoniana (11). As the natural habitats of the species are becoming endangered owing to the uncontrolled exploitation of these plant species for camptothecin, it may become critical to develop alternative sources of camptothecin. Ophiorrhiza species is a good additional source for camptothecin because of the herbaceous nature and viability in in vitro tissue culture system (12–14). Other important phytochemicals, including derivative of CPT, pumiloside, luteolin, harman, tetrahydro alastonine, bracteatine, blumeanine, strictosidinic acid and lyalosidic acid are also present in varying quantities in certain species of Ophiorrhiza (15). Exploration for new species of Ophiorrhiza is very important to identify more potent medicinal sources. In this review, the importance of Ophiorrhiza species, their distribution status, phytochemical and pharmaceutical aspects with special interest on camptothecin and its future prospects are discussed. © Krishnakumar et al. (2020). This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited (htps://creatvecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). To cite this artcle: Krishnakumar G, Dintu KP, Varghese SC, Nair DS, Gopinath G, Rameshkumar KB, Satheeshkumar K, Krishnan PN. Ophiorrhiza, a promising herbaceous source of the antcancer compound camptothecin. Plant Science Today. 2020;7(2):240–250. htps://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2020.7.2.660 Plant Science Today, published by Horizon e-Publishing Group, is covered by Scopus, Web of Science, BIOSIS Previews, etc. Full list at htp://www.plantsciencetoday.online PLANT SCIENCE TODAY, 2020 Vol 7(2): 240–250 https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.2020.7.2.660 ISSN 2348-1900 (online) HORIZON e-Publishing Group