ADVANTAGES AND LIMITATIONS IN THE USE OF HAIRY ROOT CULTURES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF TROPANE ALKALOIDS: USE OF ANTI-AUXINS IN THE MAINTENANCE OF NORMAL ROOT MORPHOLOGY

SI PITTA-ALVAREZ; GIUILIETTI, ANA MARÍA

IN VITRO CELLULAR & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY. PLANT

SPRINGER

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 1995 vol. 31 p. 215 - 220

1054-5476

Brugmansia candida hairy roots, obtained by infection with Agrobacterium rhizogenes LBA 9402, exhibit, after subculturingin liquid media, a tendency towards dedifferentiation. It has been found that the following strategies can be appliedto inhibit this dedifferentiation and preserve normal root morphology: (a) lowering both the mineral and sucrose concentrationin the media employed so as to diminish osmotic stress (a condition to which these roots appear to be particularly susceptible);(b) employing antiauxins in appropriate concentrations; and (c) maintaining the hairy roots on solid media prior touse in production processes in liquid media. The first strategy suggested does not favor alkaloid productivity, but in thiscase a two-step method could be attempted: biomass with normal root morphology could be obtained in a first stage usinglow sucrose concentrations, and in a second stage, sucrose could be increased in order to achieve higher productivity. Inall the clones of B. candida obtained, alkaloid production was biased towards scopolamine.