Distribution and Variation of Indole Glucosinolates in Woad (Isatis tinctoria L.)

Abstract

The exceptionally high levels in woad (Isatis tinctoria L.) of three indolic goitrogens, namely glucobrassicin, neoglucobrassicin, and glucobrassicin-1-sulfonate, permit the facile study of their distribution in the plant and their changes during its development. Woad seeds contain as much as 0.23% fresh weight of glucobrassicin but no other indole glucosinolate, while 1-week-old seedlings also contain substantial amounts of neoglucobrassicin and glucobrassicin-1-sulfonate in their shoots whether grown in the light or dark. The sulfonate is not found in roots, and light depresses neoglucobrassicin levels in shoots. Sterile root cultures synthesize glucobrassicin and neoglucobrassicin, and significant quantities of these were even found to be excreted by the roots of intact sterile seedlings in culture. This may explain the long known deleterious effect of woad and other cruciferous crops on subsequent plantings and the observation could be of ecological importance. Long term changes in levels of all three substances in the plant are similar and are compatible with earlier suggestions that the compounds could be auxin precursors at the time of flower stem elongation. Since sterile seedlings readily incorporate ³⁵SO₄²⁻ into indole glucosinolates and relative specific radioactivities suggest that glucobrassicin is the precursor of the other two compounds, pathways of goitrogen biosynthesis should be relatively easily determined in this material.