Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
Molecules. 2013 Feb 27;18(3):2623-34. doi: 10.3390/molecules18032623.
Alkaloids with allelopathic activity are not as well-known as other allelochemicals. Our study revealed that total alkaloids from seeds of the medicinal plant Peganum harmala L. possessed significant growth inhibitory effect on four treated plants, with dicot plants (lettuce and amaranth) being more sensitive than the tested monocot plants (wheat and ryegrass). Further investigation led to the isolation of harmaline and harmine as the main active ingredients in the total alkaloids of P. harmala seeds. Harmaline exerted potent inhibitory effects on seedling growth of treated plants, especially dicots, inhibiting root elongation of lettuce and amaranth by 31% and 47% at a very low concentration (5 µg/mL), whereas harmine exhibited much weaker non-selective inhibitory effect on the plants. Considering the high yield and poor utilization of P. harmala in China, we anticipate that this plant could be exploited as an alternative weed management tool in the future.
具有化感作用的生物碱不如其他化感物质那么为人所知。我们的研究表明，药用植物骆驼蓬种子中的总生物碱对四种处理植物具有显著的生长抑制作用，双子叶植物（生菜和苋菜）比所测试的单子叶植物（小麦和黑麦草）更为敏感。进一步的研究导致分离出骆驼蓬碱和去氢骆驼蓬碱作为 P. harmala 种子总生物碱的主要活性成分。骆驼蓬碱对处理植物的幼苗生长表现出强烈的抑制作用，特别是对双子叶植物，在非常低的浓度（5 µg/mL）下，生菜和苋菜的根伸长分别被抑制了 31%和 47%，而去氢骆驼蓬碱对植物表现出较弱的非选择性抑制作用。考虑到在中国骆驼蓬的产量高但利用率低，我们预计这种植物将来可能被开发为一种替代杂草管理工具。
