The American mayapple revisited - Podophyllum peltatum - Still a potentialcash crop?

Podophyllum peltatum, was reexamined for its potential tial use in the comm ercial production of podophyllotoxin, a lignan used in the semisynthesis of important anticancer drugs. A survey of the natural population of the Amer ican mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, was conducted in order to identify, hi gh-yielding genotypes. Plants were collected from the eastern and central U nited States. The lignan content of leaf blades and rhizome material of the collected specimens was characterized by aqueous extraction followed by HP LC analysis. Podophyllotoxin and alpha -peltatin appeared most prominently among the lignans obtained Leaf blades were generally richer in podophyllot oxin than rhizomes. Several high-yielding accessions were identified the bl ades of which contained 4.0-5.6% podophyllotoxin. A negative correlation wa s observed between podophyllotoxin and peltatin content in the blades. The combination of high biosynthetic capacity and preferential accumulation of podophyllotoxin in leaves of mayapple makes this plant an excellent candida te for agricultural production of podophyllotoxin.