TROPANE ALKALOID LEVELS IN THE LEAVES OF MICROPROPAGATED DATURA-INNOXIA PLANTS

Three androgenic Datura innoxia Mill. (Solanaceae) plants which had been characterised in regard to their tropane alkaloid levels were micropropagated through axillary buds. The alkaloid contents in the leaves of more than 300 micropropagated plants were investigated by ELISA and HPLC, after one and two culture cycles and compared to those of one of seedlings obtained from the same original line from which the androgenic plants had been produced. The plant with the higher alkaloid level yielded the population with the most alkaloids. After a second cycle of micropropagation, all the populations contained more alkaloids than those they had been derived from. All the micropropagated plant populations contained higher levels of alkaloids than plants grown from seeds.