BIOTECHNOLOGY AND METABOLIC ENGINEERING OF STEVIA REBAUDIANA (BERT.) BERTONI: PERSPECTIVE AND POSSIBILITIES

*Metabolic engineering has emerged as a powerful tool for higher yields of secondary metabolites of industrial importance. Stevia plants are known for providing natural calorie-free sweetener and the sweetness arising from several steviol glycosides and their derivatives residing in the leaf tissue. Steviol glycoside biosynthesis pathway has several steps catalyzed by different enzymes, manipulation of which by either increasing or diverting flux to desired product by introducing genes from other organism can offer an attractive prospect in the future. The steviol glycosides are synthesized and get accumulated in glandular trichomes present on the surface of leaves of Stevia rebaudiana. Micropropagation can provide for uniform high quality planting material.