Understanding the influence of environment and correlation/relationships among traits is necessary in selection for crop quality improvement. Therefore, correlations among antioxidant activity (AOA), total phenolics (TP), phenolic composition, and specific gravity (SPG) in four potato (Solanum tuberosum, L.) cultivars (Atlantic, Red La Soda, Russet Norkotah, and Yukon Gold) grown in nine states (California, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin) for three years, and in 15 advanced selections grown in Texas were investigated. Cultivars within and between locations were significantly different in AOA, TP, and SPG. Significant effects of cultivar, year, location and their interactions on AOA, TP, and SPG were observed. There were significant positive correlations among the four cultivars between AOA and TP, and negative correlations between AOA and SPG, and between TP and SPG. However, correlations between AOA and SPG, and between TP and SPG, in the advanced selections were not significant. Some tuber-bearing wild potato species were higher in AOA and TP than the commercial cultivars; therefore, they could be used as parental material in breeding for high AOA and TP. However, use of wild species that might be higher in total glycoalkaloids (TGA) than cultivars could result in progenies with high TGA if the traits are positively correlated. To elucidate the relationships among AOA, TP and TGA, accessions of Solanum jamesii and S. microdontum from the US Potato Genebank were screened for these traits and their correlations determined. Also, anti-proliferative and cytotoxic effects of 15 S. jamesii tuber extracts (5 and 10 μg/ml) on human prostate (LNCaP) and colon (HT-29) cancer cells was determined in vitro. Alpha-solanine and α-chaconine were found in both species, while tomatine and dehydrotomatine were quantified in some S. microdontum accessions. Both species were higher in all above traits than the Atlantic, Red La Soda, and Yukon Gold cultivars. More than 90% of S. jamesii accessions had TGA levels < 20 mg/100g fresh weight, while only two accessions of S. microdontum, P1 500041 and PI 473171, exhibited TGA < 20 mg/100g. Neither AOA nor TP was significantly correlated with TGA in both species. Also, individual phenolics were not correlated with TGA. Solanum jamesii accessions significantly reduced proliferation of HT-29 (5 and 10μg/ml) and LNCaP (10μg/ml) cells and were not cytotoxic compared to the control (DMSO). Therefore, since AOA and TP were not found to be correlated with TGA, using wild accessions in breeding for increased health promoting compounds would not necessarily increase glycoalkaloids in newly developed potato cultivars.

Batatas (Solanum tuberosum) juntamente com arroz, trigo e milho, são as culturas mais consumida no mundo. A inclusão de novas variedades de S. tuberosum para consumo humano e sob a forma de ração necessita avaliação quanto sua segurança. Normas internacionais citam glicoalcalóides (GA) como tóxicos-chave em avaliação de novas variedades de batatas. Portanto, o objetivo do trabalho foi propor um modelo de avaliação da segurança de novas variedades de batata, incluindo geneticamente modificados, baseado no transcriptoma e análise comparativa de variedades com histórico de segurança. Adicionalmente, pretendeu-se determinar genes referência para análise transcricional de tubérculos. E ainda, caracterizar os genes glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAMEs), que fazem parte da biossíntese de GA e relacionar sua expressão com o total de glicoalcalóides (TGA) em diferentes genótipos de tubérculos de batatas. Para tanto, construiu-se um banco de dados com RNAseq de 90 tubérculos de batatas com grande variabilidade genética e natural. O banco de dados também foi utilizado para ranquear candidatos a genes normalizadores, baseado no intervalo interquartil (IQR), que, posteriormente, tiveram sua estabilidade calculada pelo: geNorm, NormFinder e BestKeeper. O conteúdo de TGA foi medido em cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência com espectrômetro de massa (CLAE-EM) e a expressão dos GAMEs foi determinada por reação de transcriptase reversa quantitativa seguida da reação em cadeia da polimerase (RT-qPCR). Para análise da região promotora utilizou-se: Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator. Através dos resultados obtidos e analisados, podemos afirmar que o modelo, quando devidamente validado e finalizado, pode ser considerado bastante promissor. Os genes C2, SEC3 e CUL3A foram considerados como excelentes normalizadores para tubérculos de batata. A expressão dos GAMEs foi maior em tubérculos com maior conteúdo de TGA, e com exceção do GAME7, os genes GAME4, GAME6, GAME8ab, GAME11 e GAME12 demonstraram ser estatisticamente (α = 0,05) mais expressos em amostras com maior teor de TGA e menos em amostras com menor TGA, confirmando a relação destes genes com a produção de glicoalcalóides. Na análise de fatores de transcrição dos GAMEs muitos elementos cis relacionados a estresse biótico e abiótico, e regulação por luz foram encontrados, além de muitas cópias desses elementos cis nas regiões promotoras de todos os GAMEs. Os resultados obtidos no presente trabalho são importantes para um melhor entendimento da formação e regulação dos GA em tubérculos de batatas, auxiliando na predição e prevenção de formação deste composto. / Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption. The introduction of new varieties of S. tuberosum for food or feed requires the checking of not only substances of pro-nutritional functioning on the human body, but should examine the content of toxic compounds, such as glycoalkaloids (GA), as an international norm recommendation for new potatoes varieties evaluation, including genetic modified. For this reason, the goal of the present work was build a food safety assessment model based on transcriptomics, and comparative with history of safe human consumption. Besides, we intended to determined reference genes for transcriptional analysis of potato tuber, and characterized glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAME) genes that partake of GA biosynthesis pathway. The correlation between the expression of GAME genes and total glycoalkaloids (TGA) content in different genotypes of potato tubers was evaluated. To do so, a database was build with RNASeq data from 90 potato tubers with large genotype and natural variability. These database were also used to ranking the candidates to be reference genes based on Interquartile Range (IQR). The stability of candidates for reference genes were evaluated by geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. The content of TGA were measured on high performance liquid chromatography acoplated on mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Later, Reverse Transcriptase quantitative Polymerase Chain Reactions (RT-qPCR) determined the expression of GAME genes. For the promoter region analysis of GAMEs were used “Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator”. It is possible affirmed that the food safety assessment model after a properly validation will be promising. The best reference genes for transcriptional analysis studies of potato tubers were C2, SEC3 and CUL3A. The expression of GAME4, GAME6, GAME7, GAME8ab, GAME11, and GAME12 were higher in tubers with high TGA content, and, exception for GAME7, the other GAME genes demonstrate statically (α = 0,05) higher expression on samples with high TGA and lower on samples with low TGA content, confirming that there is a relation between GAME genes and GA biosynthesis. On transcription factors analysis of GAME genes several cis-elements related to abiotic and biotic stress, and light regulated were found, also many copies of these factors in all GAME promoter region. All these results are very helpful to better understand GA formation and regulation on potato tubers, helping to predict and prevent the formation of these toxic.

Batatas (Solanum tuberosum) juntamente com arroz, trigo e milho, são as culturas mais consumida no mundo. A inclusão de novas variedades de S. tuberosum para consumo humano e sob a forma de ração necessita avaliação quanto sua segurança. Normas internacionais citam glicoalcalóides (GA) como tóxicos-chave em avaliação de novas variedades de batatas. Portanto, o objetivo do trabalho foi propor um modelo de avaliação da segurança de novas variedades de batata, incluindo geneticamente modificados, baseado no transcriptoma e análise comparativa de variedades com histórico de segurança. Adicionalmente, pretendeu-se determinar genes referência para análise transcricional de tubérculos. E ainda, caracterizar os genes glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAMEs), que fazem parte da biossíntese de GA e relacionar sua expressão com o total de glicoalcalóides (TGA) em diferentes genótipos de tubérculos de batatas. Para tanto, construiu-se um banco de dados com RNAseq de 90 tubérculos de batatas com grande variabilidade genética e natural. O banco de dados também foi utilizado para ranquear candidatos a genes normalizadores, baseado no intervalo interquartil (IQR), que, posteriormente, tiveram sua estabilidade calculada pelo: geNorm, NormFinder e BestKeeper. O conteúdo de TGA foi medido em cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência com espectrômetro de massa (CLAE-EM) e a expressão dos GAMEs foi determinada por reação de transcriptase reversa quantitativa seguida da reação em cadeia da polimerase (RT-qPCR). Para análise da região promotora utilizou-se: Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator. Através dos resultados obtidos e analisados, podemos afirmar que o modelo, quando devidamente validado e finalizado, pode ser considerado bastante promissor. Os genes C2, SEC3 e CUL3A foram considerados como excelentes normalizadores para tubérculos de batata. A expressão dos GAMEs foi maior em tubérculos com maior conteúdo de TGA, e com exceção do GAME7, os genes GAME4, GAME6, GAME8ab, GAME11 e GAME12 demonstraram ser estatisticamente (α = 0,05) mais expressos em amostras com maior teor de TGA e menos em amostras com menor TGA, confirmando a relação destes genes com a produção de glicoalcalóides. Na análise de fatores de transcrição dos GAMEs muitos elementos cis relacionados a estresse biótico e abiótico, e regulação por luz foram encontrados, além de muitas cópias desses elementos cis nas regiões promotoras de todos os GAMEs. Os resultados obtidos no presente trabalho são importantes para um melhor entendimento da formação e regulação dos GA em tubérculos de batatas, auxiliando na predição e prevenção de formação deste composto. / Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption. The introduction of new varieties of S. tuberosum for food or feed requires the checking of not only substances of pro-nutritional functioning on the human body, but should examine the content of toxic compounds, such as glycoalkaloids (GA), as an international norm recommendation for new potatoes varieties evaluation, including genetic modified. For this reason, the goal of the present work was build a food safety assessment model based on transcriptomics, and comparative with history of safe human consumption. Besides, we intended to determined reference genes for transcriptional analysis of potato tuber, and characterized glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAME) genes that partake of GA biosynthesis pathway. The correlation between the expression of GAME genes and total glycoalkaloids (TGA) content in different genotypes of potato tubers was evaluated. To do so, a database was build with RNASeq data from 90 potato tubers with large genotype and natural variability. These database were also used to ranking the candidates to be reference genes based on Interquartile Range (IQR). The stability of candidates for reference genes were evaluated by geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. The content of TGA were measured on high performance liquid chromatography acoplated on mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Later, Reverse Transcriptase quantitative Polymerase Chain Reactions (RT-qPCR) determined the expression of GAME genes. For the promoter region analysis of GAMEs were used “Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator”. It is possible affirmed that the food safety assessment model after a properly validation will be promising. The best reference genes for transcriptional analysis studies of potato tubers were C2, SEC3 and CUL3A. The expression of GAME4, GAME6, GAME7, GAME8ab, GAME11, and GAME12 were higher in tubers with high TGA content, and, exception for GAME7, the other GAME genes demonstrate statically (α = 0,05) higher expression on samples with high TGA and lower on samples with low TGA content, confirming that there is a relation between GAME genes and GA biosynthesis. On transcription factors analysis of GAME genes several cis-elements related to abiotic and biotic stress, and light regulated were found, also many copies of these factors in all GAME promoter region. All these results are very helpful to better understand GA formation and regulation on potato tubers, helping to predict and prevent the formation of these toxic.

Batatas (Solanum tuberosum) juntamente com arroz, trigo e milho, são as culturas mais consumida no mundo. A inclusão de novas variedades de S. tuberosum para consumo humano e sob a forma de ração necessita avaliação quanto sua segurança. Normas internacionais citam glicoalcalóides (GA) como tóxicos-chave em avaliação de novas variedades de batatas. Portanto, o objetivo do trabalho foi propor um modelo de avaliação da segurança de novas variedades de batata, incluindo geneticamente modificados, baseado no transcriptoma e análise comparativa de variedades com histórico de segurança. Adicionalmente, pretendeu-se determinar genes referência para análise transcricional de tubérculos. E ainda, caracterizar os genes glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAMEs), que fazem parte da biossíntese de GA e relacionar sua expressão com o total de glicoalcalóides (TGA) em diferentes genótipos de tubérculos de batatas. Para tanto, construiu-se um banco de dados com RNAseq de 90 tubérculos de batatas com grande variabilidade genética e natural. O banco de dados também foi utilizado para ranquear candidatos a genes normalizadores, baseado no intervalo interquartil (IQR), que, posteriormente, tiveram sua estabilidade calculada pelo: geNorm, NormFinder e BestKeeper. O conteúdo de TGA foi medido em cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência com espectrômetro de massa (CLAE-EM) e a expressão dos GAMEs foi determinada por reação de transcriptase reversa quantitativa seguida da reação em cadeia da polimerase (RT-qPCR). Para análise da região promotora utilizou-se: Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator. Através dos resultados obtidos e analisados, podemos afirmar que o modelo, quando devidamente validado e finalizado, pode ser considerado bastante promissor. Os genes C2, SEC3 e CUL3A foram considerados como excelentes normalizadores para tubérculos de batata. A expressão dos GAMEs foi maior em tubérculos com maior conteúdo de TGA, e com exceção do GAME7, os genes GAME4, GAME6, GAME8ab, GAME11 e GAME12 demonstraram ser estatisticamente (α = 0,05) mais expressos em amostras com maior teor de TGA e menos em amostras com menor TGA, confirmando a relação destes genes com a produção de glicoalcalóides. Na análise de fatores de transcrição dos GAMEs muitos elementos cis relacionados a estresse biótico e abiótico, e regulação por luz foram encontrados, além de muitas cópias desses elementos cis nas regiões promotoras de todos os GAMEs. Os resultados obtidos no presente trabalho são importantes para um melhor entendimento da formação e regulação dos GA em tubérculos de batatas, auxiliando na predição e prevenção de formação deste composto. / Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important food crop in the world after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption. The introduction of new varieties of S. tuberosum for food or feed requires the checking of not only substances of pro-nutritional functioning on the human body, but should examine the content of toxic compounds, such as glycoalkaloids (GA), as an international norm recommendation for new potatoes varieties evaluation, including genetic modified. For this reason, the goal of the present work was build a food safety assessment model based on transcriptomics, and comparative with history of safe human consumption. Besides, we intended to determined reference genes for transcriptional analysis of potato tuber, and characterized glycoalkaloid metabolism (GAME) genes that partake of GA biosynthesis pathway. The correlation between the expression of GAME genes and total glycoalkaloids (TGA) content in different genotypes of potato tubers was evaluated. To do so, a database was build with RNASeq data from 90 potato tubers with large genotype and natural variability. These database were also used to ranking the candidates to be reference genes based on Interquartile Range (IQR). The stability of candidates for reference genes were evaluated by geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. The content of TGA were measured on high performance liquid chromatography acoplated on mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Later, Reverse Transcriptase quantitative Polymerase Chain Reactions (RT-qPCR) determined the expression of GAME genes. For the promoter region analysis of GAMEs were used “Plant Pan – Plant Promoter Analysis Navigator”. It is possible affirmed that the food safety assessment model after a properly validation will be promising. The best reference genes for transcriptional analysis studies of potato tubers were C2, SEC3 and CUL3A. The expression of GAME4, GAME6, GAME7, GAME8ab, GAME11, and GAME12 were higher in tubers with high TGA content, and, exception for GAME7, the other GAME genes demonstrate statically (α = 0,05) higher expression on samples with high TGA and lower on samples with low TGA content, confirming that there is a relation between GAME genes and GA biosynthesis. On transcription factors analysis of GAME genes several cis-elements related to abiotic and biotic stress, and light regulated were found, also many copies of these factors in all GAME promoter region. All these results are very helpful to better understand GA formation and regulation on potato tubers, helping to predict and prevent the formation of these toxic.

Applications of growth regulators and modifications of light exposures were investigated regarding their abilities to curtail the normal development of chlorophyll and glycoalkaloids in potato tubers responding to light . Four growth regulators were sprayed on the foliage of potato plants 14 days prior to harvest, of which two I (Ethephon and N6 -Benzyladenine [N6BA]) successfully retarded chlorophyll and glycoalkaloids in the harvested tubers. When tubers were dipped in N6BA, lower concentrations of the !chemical promoted glycoalkaloid formation, while larger amounts we~e more inhibitory . When fluorescent lights were directed through colored cellophane filters, tubers receiving yellow and orange illuminations were inhibited in chlorophyll formation and those receiving green illumination were most reduced in production of glycoalkaloids .

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

No description available.

No description available.

<p>U okviru doktorske disertacije su razvijeni i optimizovani postupci pripreme uzoraka hrane (žitarica, sirovina, poluproizvoda i prehrambenih proizvoda na bazi žitarica, voća i povrća) i stočne hrane, kao i simultano određivanje tropanskih i glikoalkaloida primenom gasne i tečne hromatografije uz maseno-spektrometrijsku detekciju. Razdvajanje alkaloida primenom gasne hromatografije je izvedeno na kapilarnoj koloni (HP-5MS UI), uz detekciju sa kvadrupolnom masenom spektrometrijom SIM tehnikom, u intervalu m/z 50&ndash;550 a.m.u. Pri optimizovanim uslovima postignuto je razdvajanje homatropina, atropina i skopolamina u vremenu od 12.75 min, pri čemu<br />tropin i anisodamin nisu mogli biti detektovani. Glikoalkaloidi nisu direktno mogli biti određivani gasnom hromatografijom usled njihove visoke molekulske mase i male isparljivosti. Za simultano određivanje tropanskih alkaloida (tropin, l-hiosciamin, atropin, skopolamin, homatropin i anisodamin) i glikoalkaloida (&alpha;-solanin i &alpha;-kakonin) validirana je brza i osetljiva multirezidualna LC&ndash;MS/MS metoda. Kori&scaron;ćena je disperzivna čvrsto-fazna ekstrakcija sa 0.5% mravlje kiseline u acotonitrilu/vodi (75:25, v/v), solima magnezijum sulfat, natrijum hlorid i natrijum citrat kao i C₁₈ sorbent. Analiti su razdvojeni na Chirobiotic V koloni, sa mobilnom fazom sastavljenom od 10 mM amonijum formata u voda/acetonitril (90:10, v/v) i metanol/acetonitril (50:50, v/v), me&scaron;anim u odnosu 20:80 (v/v). Detekcija komponenti je izvedena u pozitivnom elektrosprej modu (ESI+), kori&scaron;ćenjem reakcionog vi&scaron;estrukog monitoring akvizacionog moda (MRM). Optimizovana tečno hromatografska metoda je podrazumevala brz i jednostavan proces ekstrakcije, sa prinosom od 61-111% za pojedine alkaloide, dobru linearnost u &scaron;irokom opsegu (5-80 &mu;g/kg, r²=0.998), dobru selektivnost, robusnost i preciznost (CV &lt; 5%). Granica detekcije (LOD) za sve alkaloide je bila u opsegu od 0.74 do 0.79 ng/g dok se granica kvantifikacije (LOQ) kretala od 2.17 do 2.46 ng/g u svim žitaricama, izuzev za tropin u soji i lanenom semenu (LOD = 1.55 i LOQ = 4.91 ng/g). Pri analizi uzoraka sa trži&scaron;ta alkaloidi nisu detektovani u analiziranim uzorcima hrane, kao &scaron;to su: p&scaron;enica, raž, kukuruz, bra&scaron;no od me&scaron;anih žitarica, kukuruzno bra&scaron;no, biskvit i krekeri. Stočna hrana namenjena ishrani svinja i peradi je sadržala atropin, skopolamin, &alpha;-solanin i &alpha;-kakonin u koncentracionom opsegu od 3.6 do 21.7 ng/g. Atropin i skopolamin su detektovani u koncentracionom opsegu od 2.8 do 9.8 ng/g u hrani namenjenoj ishrani krava i zečeva, dok u hrani nemenjenoj ishrani konja i divljih životinja alkaloidi nisu detektovani. U analiziranim uzorcima voća i povrća (jabuka, kru&scaron;ka, avokado, mrkva, krastvac i paprika) po prvi put u ovom radu su detektovani glikoalkaloidi, &alpha;-solanin i &alpha;-kakonin. Koncentracija oba glikoalkaloida se kretala u opsegu od 0.3 do 15 ng/g. Sadržaj glikoalkaloida u krompiru i čipsu (8708.9-18794.7 ng/g) se nalazio u okviru preporučenog ukupnog sadržaja glikoalkaloida od 200 mg/kg (sirova odvaga) (FAO/WHO, 1999). Apsorpcija i translokacija alkaloida od strane p&scaron;enice u koren, listove i stabljiku je ustanovljena upotrebom atropina ¹⁴C. Utvrđeno je da biljka nakon 15 dana apsorbuje 4.30% i 2.28% atropina ¹⁴C za niži (13676 dpm/g soil) i vi&scaron;i (37203 dpm/g soil) sadržaj standarda sa kojim je zemlji&scaron;te spajkovano, redom. Količina apsorbovanog atropina se smanjivala tokom rasta biljke. Biljka starosti 90 dana je apsorbovala 0.38% i 0.21% atropina ¹⁴C za niži i vi&scaron;i sadržaj standarda, redom. Povećanje koncentracije supstance u zemlji&scaron;tu nije uticalo na dalje povećanje apsorpcije. Do nagomilavanja supstance je do&scaron;lo u listovima (83%) dok su niže koncentracije zabilježene u korenu (8.6%), stabljici (4.2%) i semenu (4.1%). U analiziranim uzorcima vode, koja je poticala od ispiranja zemlji&scaron;ta obogaćenog atropinom ¹⁴C, nakon 30 dana supstanca je detektovana u koncentraciji od 0.5%. Tokom vremena je ustanovljeno smanjenje ispiranja ove supstance (0.01% nakon 90 dana). Analiza uzoraka zemlji&scaron;ta nakon 30 i 60 dana je pokazala značajne adsorpcione osobine atropina, tako da je količina čvrsto adsorbovanog (neekstrahovanog) atropina iznosila 60% i 70%, redom. Zaostali atropin je bio stabilan i nakon 90 dana.</p> / <p>The methods of sample preparation have been developed and optimized for food (grains, raw materials, food products based on grains and fruits and vegetables) and feed analyses for the purpose of simultaneous determination of tropane and glycoalkaloids by gas and liquid chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometry. Separation of alkaloids by gas chromatography was achieved by using capillary column HP-5MS UI. The alkaloids have been detected by using a quadrupole mass spectrometer inSIM mode for the range of m/z 50&ndash;550 a.m.u. Under optimised conditions, good separation of homatropine, atropine and scopolamine was achieved after 12.75 min, while tropine and anisodamine couldn`t be detected. Glycoalkaloids could not be analysed directly by gas chromatography due to their high molecular weight and low volatility. For simultaneous determination of tropane alkaloids (tropine, atropine, scopolamine, homatropine, anisodamine) and glycoalkaloids (&alpha;-solanine, &alpha;-chaconine) fast and sensitive multiresidue LC&ndash;MS/MS method was validated. In sample preparation dispersive solid phase extraction (DSPE) was performed with 0.5% formic acid in acetonitrile/water (75:25, v/v) and a mixture of magnesium sulphate, sodium chloride, sodium citrate and C18 sorbent. The analytes were separated by isocratic HPLC on a Chirobiotic V column with the mobile phase that consisted of 10 mM ammonium formate in water/acetonitrile (90:10, v/v) and methanol/acetonitrile (50:50, v/v), mixed in the ratio of 20:80 (v/v).<br />Compounds were detected in positive electrospray ionization mode (ESI+), using multi reaction monitoring (MRM). Optimised liquid-chromatographic method exhibited good linearity in the range 5-80 ng/g (r²=0.998). The method has shown to be specific, selective, accurate (recoveries from 61- 111%), precise (CV &lt; 5%) and rugged. Calculated limits of detection (LOD) for all alkaloids were in the range 0.74-0.79 ng/g, while the limits of quantitation (LOQ) were in the range 2.2-4.9 ng/g in all grains, except for tropine in soybean and linseed (LOD = 1.55 and LOQ = 4.91 ng/g). The proposed method was applied in the analyses of samples obtained from local supermarkets. The alkaloids were not detected in following food samples:<br />wheat, rye, maize, mixed grain flour, corn flour, biscuits and crackers. The feeds for pigs and chicken were the most contaminated with atropine, scopolamine, &alpha;-solanine and &alpha;-chaconine with the contents of alkaloids in the range of 3.6 to 21.7 ng/g. Atropine and scopolamine were detected in cattle and rabbit feed in concentrations ranging from 2.8 to 9.8 ng/g, while in feed for horses and wild animals none of the target alkaloids were detected. Conducted research reports for the first time the presence of glycoalkaloids, &alpha;-solanine and &alpha;-chaconine in fruit and vegetable samples (apple, pear, avocado, carrot, cucumber and paprika). The concentrations of these alkaloids were in the range of 0.3 to 15 ng/g. The content of glycoalkaloids in potato and chips complied with the recommended content of total glycoalkaloids concentration of 200 mg/kg (raw weight) (FAO/WHO, 1999). Absorption and translocation of alkaloids in wheat (roots, leaves, stem) was determined by using atropine ¹⁴C. It was found that young wheat after 15 days absorbed approximately 4.30% and 2.28% of atropine ¹⁴C for low (13676 dpm/g soil) and high (37203 dpm/g soil) spiked levels in soil, respectively. Increase in the spiked concentration in the soil did not affect higher absorption of atropine ¹⁴C in wheat. The highest accumulation of atropine ¹⁴C was observed in the leaves (83%) while lower<br />concentrations were detected in the roots (8.6%), stems (4.2%) and seeds (4.1%). In collected water samples during the soil leaching, atropine ¹⁴C was detected in the concentration of 0.5%. Leaching decreased with the time (0.01% after 90 days). Analyses of soil samples after 30 and 60 days showed strong adsorption of atropine to the soil and quantity of adsorbed atropine was 60% and 70%, respectively. Adsorbed atropine in the soil was stable after 90 days.</p>