An assay for secologanin in plant tissues based on enzymatic conversion into strictosidine

The secoiridoid glucoside secologanin is the terpenoid building block in the biosynthesis of terpenoid indole alkaloids. A method for its determination in plant tissues and in cell suspension cultures has been developed. This assay is based on the condensation of secologanin with tryptamine, yielding strictosidine, in a reaction catalysed by the enzyme strictosidine synthase (STR; E.C. 4.3.3.2). Subsequently, the formation of strictosidine is quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). STR was isolated from transgenic Nicotiana tabacum cells expressing a cDNA-derived gene coding for STR from Catharanthus roseus. The high specificity of STR for secologanin, in combination with a sensitive and selective HPLC system, allows a simple extraction of secologanin from plant tissue. The detection limit of this method is 15 ng secologanin. Using this assay, secologanin contents were determined in tissues of various plant species; Lonicera xylosteum hairy roots were found to contain 1% of secologanin on a dry weight basis. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords

Nicotiana tabacum High performance liquid chromatography Strictosidine synthase Secoiridoids Secologanin

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10284/8624

Citation

Hallard, D., Heijden, R. v. d., Contin, A., Jiménéz, E. M. T., Snoeijer, W., Verpoorte, R., Jensen, S. R., Cardoso, M. I. L., Pasquali, G., Memelink, J., & Hoge, J. H. C. (1998). An assay for secologanin in plant tissues based on enzymatic conversion into strictosidine. Phytochemical Analysis, 9(4), 162–167. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1565(199807/08)9:4%3C162::aid-pca394%3E3.0.co;2-d