Skip Navigation


JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 10, 2005
Journal of Experimental Botany 2005 56(412):645-652; doi:10.1093/jxb/eri067
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
56/412/645    most recent
eri067v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (8)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Richter, U.
Right arrow Articles by Dräger, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Richter, U.
Right arrow Articles by Dräger, B.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Richter, U.
Right arrow Articles by Dräger, B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol. 56, No. 412, © Society for Experimental Biology 2005; all rights reserved

RESEARCH PAPER

Overexpression of tropinone reductases alters alkaloid composition in Atropa belladonna root cultures

Ute Richter, Grit Rothe, Anne-Katrin Fabian, Bettina Rahfeld and Birgit Dräger*

Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 8, D-06120 Halle/Saale, Germany

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +49 345 55 27021. E-mail: draeger{at}pharmazie.uni-halle.de

The medicinally applied tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine are produced in Atropa belladonna L. and in a small number of other Solanaceae. Calystegines are nortropane alkaloids that derive from a branching point in the tropane alkaloid biosynthetic pathway. In A. belladonna root cultures, calystegine molar concentration is 2-fold higher than that of hyoscyamine and scopolamine. In this study, two tropinone reductases forming a branching point in the tropane alkaloid biosynthesis were overexpressed in A. belladonna. Root culture lines with strong overexpression of the transcripts contained more enzyme activity of the respective reductase and enhanced enzyme products, tropine or pseudotropine. High pseudotropine led to an increased accumulation of calystegines in the roots. Strong expression of the tropine-forming reductase was accompanied by 3-fold more hyoscyamine and 5-fold more scopolamine compared with control roots, and calystegine levels were decreased by 30–90% of control. In some of the transformed root cultures, an increase of total tropane alkaloids was observed. Thus, transformation with cDNA of tropinone reductases successfully altered the ratio of tropine-derived alkaloids versus pseudotropine-derived alkaloids.

Key words: Atropa belladonna, calystegine, gene transformation, hyoscyamine, overexpression, scopolamine, tropane alkaloids, tropinone reductase


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Exp BotHome page
U. Richter, U. Sonnewald, and B. Drager
Calystegines in potatoes with genetically engineered carbohydrate metabolism
J. Exp. Bot., May 1, 2007; 58(7): 1603 - 1615.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.