ANALYSIS OF THE POTENTIAL USE OF ANDROGENIC DATURA-INNOXIA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CELL-CULTURES PRODUCING HIGH AMOUNTS OF TROPANE ALKALOIDS

Normal and androgenic diploid Datura innoxia plants were selfed and the progeny was analysed for its leaf alkaloid content. Since the androgenic lines had originally produced very different amounts of the tropane alkaloids, scopolamine and hyoscyamine, we were interested in determining whether this trait is transmitted by self-fertilization. The alkaloid content of the progeny was found to correlate well with that of the parental plants. Also, calli were initiated from leaf discs derived from plants with different capacities for alkaloid biosynthesis. These were further subcultured for 2 years. Again, the same correlations in hyoscyamine and scopolamine content were observed. This indicates that it is possible to initiate callus with a high alkaloid content starting from actively alkaloid-producing androgenic Datura innoxia plants.