Influence of biotic and abiotic elicitors on accumulation of hyoscyamine and scopolamine in root cultures of<i> Datura metel</i> L.<b></b>

317-322 Leaf-derived root cultures of Datura metel L., established on B5 medium containing 1.2 µM IAA, were employed to study the influence of biotic (Aspergillus niger, Alternaria sp., Fusarium monoliforme and yeast extract) and abiotic (salicylic acid, AlCl3, CaCl2, NaCl and Na2SO4) elicitors on the growth and production of hyoscyamine and scopolamine, the medicinally important tropane alkaloids. The hyoscyamine and scopolamine contents in control root cultures were 1.39 mg/g dw and 0.069 mg/g dw, respectively. The highest hyoscyamine (4.35 mg/g dw) and scopolamine (0.28 mg/g dw) accumulation was obtained in cultures treated with 500 μM salicylic acid, followed by treatment with 0.75 g L-1 yeast extract (3.17 mg/g dw hyoscyamine & 0.16 mg/g dw scopolamine) and 250 μM AlCl3 (2.49 mg/g dw hyoscyamine and 0.11 mg/g dw scopolamine). </smarttagtype