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Production Enhancement of Medicinally Active Coumarin and Phenolic Compounds in Hairy Root Cultures of Pelargonium sidoides: The Effect of Elicitation and Sucrose

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Abstract

African geranium (Pelargonium sidoides DC., Geraniaceae) is a herbaceous perennial plant with well-known medicinal properties. In the present study, the effect of elicitation by methyl jasmonate (MeJ) (25, 50, and 100 µM) and sucrose (15 and 30 g/L) on the fresh weight (FW), dry weight (DW) and the production of pharmaceutically active coumarin (umckalin) and phenolics (gallic, vanillic, and p-coumaric acids) in P. sidoides hairy root cultures was investigated. Hairy roots were induced from the leaves of in vitro sterile P. sidoides seedlings inoculated with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains (LBA-9402, C58C1) and Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 (pRiA4). Among the fifteen evaluated hairy root lines (HRLs), HRL4 showed the highest accumulation of biomass (9.6 g FW and 0.56 DW) and was selected for elicitation and sucrose management for 50 days in a shaking system. The treated HRs, developed in Murashige and Skoog liquid media, demonstrated the highest FW (32.68 g) and DW (1.1 g) 50 days after elicitation with 100 µM of MeJ. However, a 1.4-fold enhancement of gallic and vanillic acids was achieved with 50 and 25 µM of MeJ, respectively, in HRs under control conditions. The highest accumulation of umckalin (1.61-fold increase compared to the control) was obtained with 100 µM of MeJ. These findings can be useful to develop commercial production of umckalin and phenolics in P. sidoides HR cultures in scaled-up systems and bioreactors.

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Abbreviations

DPE:

Days post elicitation

FW:

Fresh weight

DW:

Dry weight

HRCs:

Hairy root cultures

HRLs:

Hairy root lines

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

MeJ:

Methyl jasmonate

SMs:

Secondary metabolites

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) for financial support of this project with the Grant Number #96003588. The authors thanks Pars Gita Daru Company (Iran) for technical support for umckalin analysis. The authors express their sincere gratitude to the Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 8415683111, Iran

    Zeynab Yousefian & Pooran Golkar

  2. Department of Natural Resources, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 8415683111, Iran

    Pooran Golkar

  3. Department of Agriculture, Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C. Evin, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hossein Mirjalili

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  1. Zeynab Yousefian
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Yousefian, Z., Golkar, P. & Mirjalili, M.H. Production Enhancement of Medicinally Active Coumarin and Phenolic Compounds in Hairy Root Cultures of Pelargonium sidoides: The Effect of Elicitation and Sucrose. J Plant Growth Regul 40, 628–641 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-020-10127-y

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