Influence of hairy root ecotypes on production of tropane alkaloids in Brugmansia candida

Hyoscyamine and scopolamine are tropane alkaloids widely applied in medicine. Differences in alkaloid production and growth kinetics have been observed in Argentinian and Colombian ecotypes of Brugmansia candida hairy roots. The aim of this work was to analyze the production of key intermediates in tropane alkaloid synthesis in both ecotypes to determine differences in the biosynthetic pathway. Additionally, rolC gene expression was analyzed to determine its correlation with hairy root growth. The results showed a higher accumulation of polyamines in Colombian hairy roots, suggesting that there may be a rate-limiting enzyme in the last steps of hyoscyamine biosynthesis. Additionally, rolC gene expression was correlated with an improvement in hairy root growth, which supports the function of rol genes as growth modulators and suggests that metabolic engineering approaches involving rolC manipulation may be useful for the development of more efficient B. candida hairy root cultures for biotechnological applications.