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Establishment of the hairy root culture of Echium plantagineum L. and its shikonin production

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Abstract

Echium plantagineum L. (Boraginaceae) is an invasive species in Australia and contains medicinal shikonins in its roots. In this study, the hairy root lines of E. plantagineum were established using Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain ATCC15834 and confirmed by the amplification of the rolB gene. Results showed significant difference in shikonin production between the hairy root lines in the 1/2B5 and M9 media. The biomass of the lines in the 1/2B5 medium was fivefold of that in the M9 medium. However, the components of detected shikonins were similar in these two liquid media. By contrast, different accumulation profiles appeared in the hairy root lines. HPLC analysis revealed the presence of nine possible related compounds, including shikonins, and acetylshikonin was the most abundant shikonin derivative. The content of acetylshikonin in the 1/2B5 medium (36.25 mg/L on average) was twofold of that in the M9 medium. Our results showed that the hairy root cultures of E. plantagineum can be used in enhancing the production of potential pharmaceutical compounds, such as acetylshikonin.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1903201, 31970321, 31771413, 31670298), the Open Project Program from MOE Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of China, and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University from the Ministry of Education of China (IRT_14R27).

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  1. Jiang-Yan Fu and Hua Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Plant Molecular Biology, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Jiang-Yan Fu, Hua Zhao, Jia-Xin Bao, Zhong-Ling Wen, Rong-Jun Fang, Aliya Fazal, Min-Kai Yang, Yan-Jun Pang, Gui-Hua Lu, Jin-Liang Qi & Yong-Hua Yang

  2. Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of the Ministry of Education (MOE), Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China

    Bao Liu

  3. Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Tong-Ming Yin, Yan-Jun Pang, Gui-Hua Lu, Jin-Liang Qi & Yong-Hua Yang

  4. School of Life Sciences, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, 223300, China

    Gui-Hua Lu

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Contributions

YHY, JLQ, and GHL conceived and designed the experiments. JYF, HZ, and JXB performed the experiments. JYF, HZ, ZLW, and RJF analyzed the data. AF, MKY, BL, TMY, and YJP contributed to resources. JYF and HZ wrote the draft of manuscript. YHY, JLQ, and GHL contributed to review and edit the manuscript. All the authors carefully checked and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gui-Hua Lu, Jin-Liang Qi or Yong-Hua Yang.

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Fu, JY., Zhao, H., Bao, JX. et al. Establishment of the hairy root culture of Echium plantagineum L. and its shikonin production. 3 Biotech 10, 429 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-020-02419-7

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