Michigan State, Czech Teams Map Enzyme Pathway in Toxic Garden Flowers

Scientists from Michigan State University and the Czech Academy of Sciences have identified the six enzymes that wolfsbane (Aconitum) and larkspur (Delphinium) use to assemble the complex diterpenoid alkaloid atisinium. The collaboration, led by Björn Hamberger and Tomáš Pluskal, compared gene activity across multiple species and confirmed each enzyme by expressing the genes in tobacco plants.

The work, published in *Molecular Plant*, shows that the nitrogen in these toxins derives from ethanolamine, overturning previous assumptions. While the discovery does not yet produce a drug, it provides a blueprint for producing these compounds in safer, fast‑growing hosts and opens avenues for developing new treatments for pain, cancer and malaria.

Garret Miller, a co‑first author now at the University of Michigan‑Flint, highlighted the long medicinal use of these plants and the potential of the new biosynthetic knowledge to enable novel testing routes.