Induction of alkaloid diversity in hybrid plant cell cultures

The treatment of Rauwolfia serpentina x Rhazya stricta somatic hybrid cell suspension culture with 100 mu M of methyl jasmonate led to a general increase in indole alkaloid content and to qualitative changes in the alkaloid pattern. The content of Six alkaloids were investigated with respect to their content in both the cell biomass and nutrition medium. Intracellular 17-O-acetyl-norajmaline content on the 5th day after treatment had increased about 40-fold compared with the control culture. The respective concentrations of the other alkaloids increased by a factor of two to five. In total 26 indole alkaloids were identified in extracts of the methyl jasmonate-treated culture by TLC, UV, MS and NMR data and comparison with reference alkaloids. The identification of macrophylline, yohimbine oxindole and yohimbine pseudoindoxyl has not been reported before in Rauwolfia serpentina or Rhazya stricta plants nor in cell cultures derived from these plants.