Swainsona galegifolia

Swainsonine can be produced from root cultures of Swainsona galegifolia (with a maximum concentration of 122,9 pg of swainsonine per gram of dry weight roots) [109,110] or by fermentation of the fungus Metarhizium anisoplilae, which can lead to as much as 500 mg per litter of culture medium [111,112]. 

Potential therapeutic uses for (- )-swainsonine have led to several studies aimed at optimizing the yield of the alkaloid from natural sources. Experiments with root cultures of Swainsona galegifolia transformed with Agrobacterium rhizogenes produced higher levels of the alkaloid than untransfoimed cultures and responded favorably to various stimuli (pH, addition of copper sulfate, supplementation with malonic and pipecolic acids), but still did not produce the... 

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