In vitro propagation and analysis of secondary metabolites in Glossogyne tenuifolia (Hsiang-Ju) - a medicinal plant native to Taiwan

Abstract

BackgroundGlossogyne tenuifolia Cassini (Hsiang-Ju in Chinese) is a perennial herb native to Penghu Islands, Taiwan. The herb is a traditional anti-pyretic and hepatoprotective used in Chinese medicine. Several studies on G. tenuifolia have demonstrated its pharmacological values of antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, and cytotoxicity on several human cancer cell lines. Active compounds, oleanolic acid and luteolin in G. tenuifolia are affected by several factors, including climatic change, pathogens and agricultural practices. Plant population of G. tenuifolia has been severely affected and reduced considerably in natural habitat due to the use of herbicides by farmers. Also, collection of plant material from the natural habitat is restricted to a few months in a year. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to develop an efficient micropropagation protocol for G. tenuifolia. The study also aimed to investigate the influence of in vitro growth environment on the active compounds in in vitro shoots, tissue culture raised greenhouse plants; compare the values with wild plants and commercially available crude drug.ResultsHalf-strength MS (Murashige and Skoog) basal medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L 6-benzyladenine (BA) and 0.1 mg/L α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) induced the maximum average number of shoots (7.3) per shoot tip explant excised from in vitro grown seedlings. Induction of rooting in cent percent in vitro shoots with an average number of 6.6 roots/shoot was achieved on ½ strength MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/L indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The rooted plantlets acclimatized successfully in the greenhouse with a 100% survival rate. HPLC analysis revealed that the quantity of oleanolic acid and luteolin in in vitro shoots, tissue culture plants in the greenhouse, wild type plants and commercial crude drug varied depending upon the source. The oleanolic acid and luteolin contents were found to be significantly higher (16.89 mg/g and 0.84 mg/g, respectively) in 3-month old tissue culture raised plants in greenhouse compared to commercially available crude drug (6.51 mg/g, 0.13 mg/g, respectively).ConclusionsWe have successfully developed an in vitro propagation protocol for G. tenuifolia which can expedite its plant production throughout the year. The contents of oleanolic acid and luteolin in the tissue culture raised plants in the greenhouse were significantly higher than the marketed crude drug demonstrating the practical application of the tissue culture technology. These findings may be very useful in micropropagation, germplasm conservation and commercial cultivation of G. tenuifolia. So far, there is no published report on tissue culture propagation of this important medicinal plant species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-014-0045-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Influence of LED light spectra on in vitro somatic embryogenesis and LC–MS analysis of chlorogenic acid and rutin in Peucedanum japonicum Thunb.: a medicinal herb

“…Similar to the present study, production of higher contents of secondary metabolite compounds by tissue culture plants compared to wild plants and commercial samples available in market has been reported earlier in medicinal plants such as Glossogyne tenuifolia (Chen et al 2014 ), Saussurea involucrata (Kuo et al 2015 ).…”

High frequency direct shoot organogenesis of leaf explants and a comparative evaluation of phytochemicals, antioxidant potential of wild vs. in vitro plant extracts of Lysimachia laxa

“…In terms of getting more number of healthy and lengthy roots, IAA was found to be better than IBA for L. laxa. Similar finding was reported in Glossogyne tenuifolia (Chen et al 2014).…”

In vitro plant tissue culture: means for production of biological active compounds

“…Micropropagation has, therefore, become a commercially lucrative enterprise and provides marked advantages over conventional horticultural propagation practices by facilitating the production of large numbers of homogenous plants year-round, the generation of disease-free propagules and a substantial enhancement of multiplication rates (Debnarh et al 2006). Currently, a large number of protocols are available for the micropropagation of medicinal plants (Debnarh et al 2006;Rizvi and Kukreja 2010;Sarasan et al 2011;Kaul et al 2013;Kun-Hua et al 2013;Bhattecheryya et al 2014;Chen et al 2014a;Atanasov et al 2015), as well as some commercially important plants, such as Agave salmiana (Puente-Garza et al 2017a), artichoke (Pandino et al 2017), Stevia rebaudiana (Ramírez-Mosqueda et al 2016) and Moringa oleifera (drumstick tree) (Juan-jie et al 2017). However, the high costs of micropropagation compared with its traditional counterpart (i.e., collection from the wild) and the unpredictability of the needs of the market have limited the use of micropropagation at a commercial level (Debnarh et al 2006;Methora et al 2007;Lubbe and Verpoorte 2011;Pence 2011;Sahu and Sahu 2013).…”