Differential induction of meristematic stem cells of Catharanthus roseus and their characterization

Abstract

Plant cell culture technology has been introduced for the mass production of the many useful components. A variety of plant-derived compounds is being used in various fields, such as pharmaceuticals, foods, and cosmetics. Plant cell cultures are believed to be derived from the dedifferentiation process. In the present study, an undifferentiated cambial meristematic cell (CMCs) of Catharanthus is isolated using histological and genetic methods, and compared with dedifferentiation-derived callus (DDCs) cultures. Furthermore, differential culture conditions for both DDCs- and CMCs-derived cell lines were established. A suitable media for the increased accumulation of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) was also standardized. Compared with DDCs, CMCs showed marked accumulation of TIAs in cell lines grown on media with 1.5 mg·mL(-1) of NAA and 0.5 mg·mL(-1) of kinetin. CMCs-derived cultures of Catharanthus, as a source of key anticancer drugs (viblastine and vincristine), would overcome the obstacles usually associated with the production of natural metabolites through the use of DDCs. Cell culture systems that are derived from CMCs may also provide a cost-effective and eco-friendly basis for the sustainable production of a number of important plant natural products.

Exploiting plant alkaloids

“…Some monomeric MIAs are produced in cell and tissue cultures, but the dimeric alkaloids vinblastine and vincristine have been detected in C. roseus root cultures or cell suspensions in very low concentrations only [40,41]. Only if shoot cultures or cambial meristematic cells cultures allowing shoot differentiation were analyzed, the total dimeric alkaloids were reported to accumulate up to 1 mg/g dry mass [42].…”

Plant cell culture technology in the cosmetics and food industries: current state and future trends

“…Due to the advantages of undifferentiated cambial meristematic cells (CMCs) over DDCs, CMC-based plant suspension cultures have gained increasing attention over the past few years (Lee et al 2010 ; Lee et al 2012 ; Moon et al 2015 ; Ochoa-Villarreal et al 2015 ; Sood 2017 ). CMCs, which have small spherical abundant vacuoles, are morphologically and physiologically stable, grow as single cells, and are easy to regrow after cryopreservation.…”

Establishment and triterpenoid production of Ocimum basilicum cambial meristematic cells

“…These cells were described to grow at a faster rate, aggregate less and accumulate more product than dedifferentiated cells (DDCs) of the same plant (Ochoa-villarreal et al 2015). CMCs were described for Taxus cuspidata (Lee et al 2010), Catharanthus roseus (Moon et al 2015;Zhu et al 2018) and Tripterygium wilfordii (Song et al 2019) among others, but not yet for O. basilicum.…”