Segments of cotyledon and apical tip taken from 1-week-old seedlings of Daucus carota L. were cultured for 3 weeks on hormone-free Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium containing high amounts of sucrose (0.3-0.7M) and then transferred to the same medium with lower sucrose concentration (0.09M). Somatic embryos were formed from the segments 3 to 6 weeks after the transfer. On the other hand, hypocotyl segments given the same treatment did not produce somatic embryos. When the primary culture medium contained 0.61M mannitol and 0.09M sucrose, cotyledon segments and apical tip segments also produced somatic embryos when transferred to hormone-free MS medium with 0.09M sucrose. In all cases, somatic embryos were formed directly from the explants without visible callus formation.

Hairy root cultures of Lithospermum erythrorhizon were established by transformation of in vitro grown shoots with Agrobacterium rhizogenes 15834. Hairy roots cultured on Murashige and Skoog solid medium did not produce any red pigments. However, the hairy roots cultured in Root Culture solid or liquid media produced a large amount of red pigments, which were released to the medium. The addition of adsorbents to the culture medium stimulated shikonin production by ca. 3-fold. Using this method an air-lift fermenter system was established, equipped with a XAD-2 column, which continuously produced ca. 5 mg/day of shikonin during a period of more than 220 days.

No abstract

No abstract