A comparison between hairy root cultures and wild plants of Saussurea involucrata in phenylpropanoids production.

Saussurea involucrata is an important medicinal plant that produces a few bioactive secondary metabolites, such as hispidulin, rutin, and syringin. Previously, we established a hairy root culture system for this species through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The present study addressed the issue as how hairy root cultures perform in phenylpronoid accumulation. From the ethanolic extract of a hairy root culture established for Saussurea involucrata, syringin, rutin and hispidulin, were isolated and their chemical structures were confirmed by HPLC-ESI-MS. A quantitative study of the compounds showed great levels of syringin and hispidulin (being 43.5+/-1.13 and 0.34+/-0.023 mg g-1 dry weight, respectively), about 40 and 3 times, respectively, higher than those from wild plants. But, the levels of rutin from hairy roots were much lower (0.71+/-0.043 vs. 6.59+/-0.56 mg g-1 dry weight). Compared with untransformed root cultures, syringin and hispidulin levels were also higher. An experiment on culture media showed that MS was superior to others for phenylpropanoids accumulation in hairy roots, a 28-day culture produced 405 mg l-1 syringin.

Cellular aggregate size as the critical factor for flavonoid production by suspension cultures of Saussurea medusa.

Three previously established cell lines (yellow, red and white) of Saussurea medusa were investigated for jaceosidin and hispidulin production. Maximum yields of the jaceosidin and hispidulin were obtained in the red cell line at 75+/-0.41 and 6.4+/-0.31 mg l-1. Production of jaceosidin and hispidulin correlated with the sizes of compact callus aggregates (CCA) and cellular viability. In the red cell line, the sizes of CCA were predominantly of 2-4 mm diameter and accounted for 64% biomass. This line had a sustained cell viability over 10 successive sub-cultures.