Induction of catharanthine synthesis and stimulation of major indole alkaloids production by Catharanthus roseus cells under non-growth-altering treatment with Pythium vexans extracts

Abstract

A Catharanthus roseus cell line was selected that synthesised catharanthine exclusively under elicitation.From the first day of culture, treatment with very low concentrations of a Pythium extract did not alter the growth of the suspension but, within 24 hours, induced the synthesis of catharanthine and stimulated the production of ajmalicine. Kinetic analysis showed that serpentine then began to accumulate and that all of these effects lasted more than 7 days. Elicitation also induced changes in the cell/medium distribution of the alkaloids. Higher, although non-lethal, concentrations of the fungal elicitor were shown to impair alkaloid production. This cell line will serve as a model to study the conditions for the expression of catharanthine synthesis at the molecular level.

Catharanthine and ajmalicine synthesis in Catharanthus roseus hairy root cultures

“…This fact contrasts markedly with the observations of Nef et al (1991), who reported that low concentrations of the fungal homogenates induced the liberation of 90% of the total ajmalicine into the medium, while serpentine accumulated preferentially in the tissue. This fact contrasts markedly with the observations of Nef et al (1991), who reported that low concentrations of the fungal homogenates induced the liberation of 90% of the total ajmalicine into the medium, while serpentine accumulated preferentially in the tissue.…”

Optimization of growth performance of freshly induced carrot suspensions concerning PMP production

“…Remarkably, and in contrast to earlier reports (McDonald and Jackman 1989;Ryu et al 1990;Nef et al 1991;Magnuson et al 1996;Magnuson et al 1998), we detected large variations in biomass accumulation of carrot suspensions freshly induced from transgenic plants within a single growth period. This might be due to effects of somaclonal variations (Phillips et al 1994;Kaeppler et al 2000), epigenetic changes (Meins 1983), or the activity of transposable elements (Ozeki et al 1997) that are supposed to cause different gene expression patterns in meristematic cells (Marshall et al 2002) and which seem to be higher in young meristematic cells compared to old, long-running, suspension lines like BY2 and NT1 (Yeoman and Yeoman 1996).…”

Genetic diversity and alkaloid production in Catharanthus roseus, C. trichophyllus and their hybrids

“…For root alkaloid extraction, powdered root samples (lg) were suspended for 90min in 10% acetic acid (70ml) and then extracted as described above. Residues were disolved in methanol (3ml) and the alkaloid content was estimated by reverse-phase liquid chromatography according to the technique previously described (Nef et al, 1991). The retention times for ajmalicine, catharanthine, serpentine and vindoline were 13.3, 15.5, 17.2 and 18.5min respectively in this system.…”