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Hypericins: biotechnological production from cell and organ cultures

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Abstract

Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John’s wort), a perennial flowering plant native to Europe, is widely used as a medicinal plant and has a long history of its use in the treatment of various ailments. Currently, H. perforatum is widely used as an herbal remedy for the treatment of mild to moderate depression. Hypericins are natural napthodianthrone compounds produced from H. perforatum (St. John’s wort) which are having antitumor, antiviral (i.e., against human immunodeficiency and hepatitis C virus), antineoplastic, and antidepressant properties. Currently, field-grown plant materials are generally used for the commercial production of hypericins. It has been reported that hypericin accumulation in natural plants is influenced by different ecological and environmental conditions including light intensity, nitrogen availability, temperature, seasons, and growing regions. Therefore, up to 17-fold and 13-fold differences in hypericin and pseudohypericin amounts, respectively, are reported in different phytopharmaceutical preparations. Plant cell and organ cultures are effective systems for producing natural products, and attempts were made for the production of biomass and stable concentrations of hypericins through in vitro cultures of H. perforatum. Cell, callus, shoot, plantlet, and adventitious root cultures have been established and various chemical and physical factors which influence the biomass and secondary metabolite accumulation have been investigated. Large-scale plantlet and adventitious root cultures have also been attempted in H. perforatum in bioreactors, and various strategies have been applied for the production of higher biomass and secondary products. This review describes the biotechnological approaches employed for the production of hypericins and focuses upon the challenges and future prospects.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Korean Healthcare Technology R&D project, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea (Grant No. A103017). HNM is thankful to the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, Republic of Korea for the Brain Pool Fellowship (131S-4-3-0523). The Ministry of Science, ICT, and Planning (MSIP) also supported this study.

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  1. Research Center for the Development of Advanced Horticultural Technology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, 361-763, Republic of Korea

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy, So-Young Park & Kee-Yoeup Paek

  2. Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, 580003, India

    Hosakatte Niranjana Murthy

  3. Natural Resources Research Team, Ginseng Resources Research Laboratory, Korea Ginseng Corporation, 30, Gajeong-ro, Shinseong-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-805, Republic of Korea

    Yun-Soo Kim

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Murthy, H.N., Kim, YS., Park, SY. et al. Hypericins: biotechnological production from cell and organ cultures. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 9187–9198 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-014-6119-3

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