Production of tropane alkaloids by cultured cells of a Duboisia hybrid.

The production of scopolamine-rich calli was investigated by the quantification of tropane alkaloids in a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame thermoionic detector (FTD). Stem and leaf segments from a selected strain, M-II-8-6, a hybrid between Duboisia myoporoides R. Br. and D. leichhardtii F. Muell, were used for this experiment. Stem-derived callus subcultured for over one year in the dark on Murashige-Skoog (MS) medium containing 0.1 mg/l indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) produced hyoscyamine ane scopolamine with a yield of 0.006 and 0.005% dry weight, respectively. Leaves of shoot cultures did not show any detectable levels of alkaloids. However, the leaf callus subcultured for over one year in the dark on MS medium containing 0.1 mg/l IAA produced hyoscyamine and scopolamine with a yield of 0.007 and 0.009% dry weight, respectively. These results indicate that the ability to synthesize tropane alkaloids in stem- and leaf-derived calli can be maintained on MS medium containing IAA.