Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Università La Sapienza, P. le A. Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy.
From Italian plants of Withania somnifera six withanolides were isolated, whose structures allowed us to assign the Italian race of W. somnifera to the Israel chemotype III. In vitro cultures of Italian W. somnifera under different conditions were obtained, as well as infection by agrobacterium rhizogenes. HPLC analysis of IN vitro derived tissues showed low contents of withanolides.