Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don - plant regeneration and alkaloids content

We describe here a regeneration of plantlets of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don from shoot tips and axillary buds. Shoot tips were excised from 7-day-old seedlings and were incubated in solid Nitsch and Nitsch (NN) medium supplemented with kinetin, benzyladenine (BA), indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and β-indolylacetic acid (IAA) in various combinations. After two months in culture, regenerated rooted plantlets were cut and transferred to a new medium; the explants contained shoot tips or axillary buds. Four passages were done. We obtained about 200 rooting plantlets from one seedling. Then the plantlets were transferred to the soil and they grew under a foil tent. After five months of vegetation they were collected, dried and weighed. Chemical investigations of leaves of these plants were done. The vindoline and catharanthine were dominant alkaloids in the juvenile stage of plants (before blooming). Total amount of alkaloids, equal 2.95%, was gravimetrically determined in leaves of plants, after 4th passage, regenerated in vitro on NN medium supplemented with kinetin and IBA.