Promoting scopolamine accumulation in transgenic plants of Atropa belladonna generated from hairy roots with over expression of pmt and h6h gene

摘要

Atropa belladonna?is the most important commercial source for obtaining pharmaceutical tropane alkaloids such as scopolamine and hyoscyamine. In the present study, two rate-limiting enzyme genes including putrescine?N-methyltransferase and hyoscyamine 6β-hydroxylase were?introduced into?A. belladonna, and integration of the?pmt?and?h6h?genes into the genomic DNA of transgenic plants were confirmed by genomic?polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The scopolamine content of transgenic lines was increased to 1.3 - 2.5 folds than that in wild type, which was caused by over expression of the?pmt?andh6h?genes in the transgenic plant lines of?A. belladonna. The current study provides a more effective approach for commercially large-scale production of scopolamine by cultivating?A. belladonna?plants?in large fields but not using the hairy root systems as bioreactors.