Abstract
Vindoline concentrations in the leaves of 70 Catharanthus roseus of 3 cultivars were analyzed by HPLC, and 3 plants were selected for starting callus
cultures on different media. When the initial calli were analyzed using a vindoline-specific
RIA, the assay suggested a vindoline content of about 10-5% dry weight for one-third of the first 60 cultures examined. Due to the unexpectedly
high incidence of vindoline-positive calli, the screening programme was discontinued
and efforts were concentrated on verifying the existence of this alkaloid in the cells.
Suspension cultures derived from the 5 most immunopositive calli in an alkaloid production
medium were analyzed by HPLC and GC/MS. Comparison with reference material showed
that the heterotrophic suspension cultures contained a compound identical to vindoline.
