title: Decreased scopolamine yield in field-grown Duboisia plants regenerated from hairy roots.
abstract: Hairy root cultures were obtained from hybrid clones of Duboisia myoporoides x D. leichhardtii following transformation by Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4. Shoots spontaneously regenerating from the hairy root cultures were rooted and transferred to soil. The plants displayed typical morphological alterations known as hairy root syndrome to varying degrees. PCR analysis confirmed that all transformed plants contained the rolA, rolB and rolC genes, irrespective of the degree of morphological alterations. A field test of the transformed regenerated plants revealed that those plants displaying the strongest hairy root syndrome symptoms had the highest content of the tropane alkaloid scopolamine. However, the overall scopolamine and hyoscyamine yield of all transformed plants was clearly reduced compared to untransformed control plants. These results demonstrate that the A. rhizogenes-transformed plants tested in this study do not provide a viable alternative to agricultural farming of hybrid clones of D. myoporoides x D. leichhardtii obtained by conventional breeding.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Productes Naturals, Biologia Vegetal i Edafologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roig Celma
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Palazón
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Cusidó
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Piñol
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keil
mesh_terms: D001285:Atropine / Q000032:analysis*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000032:analysis*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000502:physiology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012038:Regeneration; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development*; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000032:analysis*; D019657:Solanaceae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D001617:beta-Glucosidase
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists; D001285:Atropine; D012601:Scopolamine; C092241:RolB protein, Agrobacterium rhizogenes; D001617:beta-Glucosidase