Abstract: Using Catharanthus roseus seeds space-mutated by recoverable satellite “Shijian-8” as material, we studied the content variation of three indole alkaloids (vindoline，catharanthine，vinblastine) in the leaves of C.roseus from the mutated progeny SP₁ and selected progeny SP₂ and SP₃. The result indicated that comparing with the C.roseus cultivated in earth, C.roseus SP₁ generation through space mutation had stronger variation ability in morphology and reproduction, and bigger amplitude of the content of alkaloids in the leaves, also the coefficient of variation was 2.06 times of the control group in earth. After three-round selection aiming at the content of vinblastine, the content of vinblastine was above 300 μg·g^-1 DW in the leaves of four strains from SP₃ generation we gathered, which was more than three times of the control group, and the coefficient of variation in this strain was lower than 15%. The above result showed that spatial environment could change the heredity and variation of the seeds of C.roseus, and after the selection of multi-generation, the variety containing high content of active substance could be cultivated.

Key words: Catharanthus roseus, space mutation, alkaloids content, intergenerational variation