Abstract

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.

Key words: Atropa belladonna, pmt, h6h, scopolamine, transformation, regeneration.