Isolation and identification of littorine from hairy roots of Atropa belladonna

A hairy root clone (M8) of Atropa belladonna, producing high levels of trop ane alkaloids, was established by transformation with Agrobacterium rhizoge nes (MAFF 03-01724). Littorine, an intermediate of tropane alkaloids, was d etected by high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-ma ss spectrometry in the alkaloid fraction of the hairy roots and identified by nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. Littorine was also detected in the non-transformed root culture of A. belladonna.