Effect of cyclodextrins and elicitation on anthraquinone production in Rubia tinctorum cell cultures

PERASSOLO M; GIULIETTI AM; RODRÍGUEZ TALOU J

Potrero de Funes, San Luis

Congreso; XLVI Reunión Anual Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular; 2011

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Bioquímica y Biología Molecular

Anthraquinones (AQs) are secondary metabolites produced by Rubia tinctorum that exhibit interesting biological properties. Since the production of these and other secondary metabolites is often low in plant in vitro cultures, different strategies have been applied to overcome this limitation. In the present work, we combined the addition of cyclodextrins with two elicitors: methyl jasmonate(MeJ) and a fungal extract (FE), in cell cultures of R. tinctorum. We performed an experiment combining methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD)with MeJ and a fungal extract (FE). After 3 days of elicitation, MeJ increased AQ intracellular content by 262%, whereas FE addition resulted in a lower increase (77%). When MCD and MeJ were added together, the intracellular AQ production increased by 450%.On the other hand, FE and MCD resulted in a mild increase in the intracellular content of AQs (31%). However, the proportion of the AQs released to the culture media after this treatment was the highest (37%).We also evaluated AQ production after the addition of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPCD) and MeJ. The combination of them enhanced AQ accumulation by 160%, after 3 and 5 days of elicitation. These results provide new evidence of the synergistic effect of cyclodextrins and MeJ on the accumulation of secondary metabolites and set the basis for a promising strategy to enhance AQ production.