Improved tropane alkaloid production and changes in gene expression in hairy root cultures of two Hyoscyamus species elicited by silicon dioxide nanoparticles

Abstract Species of Hyoscyamus are rich sources of medicinally important tropane alkaloids, which have anticholinergic, antispasmodic and sedative effects and are competitive inhibitors of acetylcholine. The application of nanotechnology and nanomaterials for elicitation is rapidly expanding and recent research indicates that silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) can be used as an efficient elicitor to increase the production of hyoscyamine and scopolamine in Hyoscyamus species. Thus, in this work, the effect of SiO2 NPs (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg L−1) with two treatment times (24 and 48 h) on the growth rate, total phenol and flavonoid content (TPC, TFC), antioxidant enzyme activity, tropane alkaloid yield and pmt (putrescine N-methyltransferase) and h6h (hyoscyamine 6 -hydroxylase) gene expression levels in hairy roots of two Hyoscyamus species (H. reticulatus and H. pusillus) was investigated. The highest TPC and TFC accumulation was obtained in H. reticulatus elicited by SiO2 NPs (100 and 200 mg L−1), respectively, at 24 h of treatment. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed the highest amount of hyoscyamine (140.15 μg g−1 FW) and scopolamine (67.71 μg g−1 FW) accumulated in H. reticulatus transformed roots treated with 100 mg L−1 SiO2 NPs at 24 h, with a respective increase of 1212% and 272% compared to non-treated roots. In H. pusillus, the highest hyoscyamine (7.42 μg g−1 FW) and scopolamine (15.56 μg g−1 FW) production (about 82% and 241% higher, respectively, compared to the lowest amounts) was achieved with 25 and 100 mg L−1 SiO2 NPs, respectively, at 48 h of treatment. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis determined the highest expression level of pmt and h6h genes in H. reticulatus transformed roots supplemented with 100 mg L−1 SiO2 NPs.