Abstract
The genus Digitalis, commonly known as the “foxglove,” is one of the most important medicinal plants belonging to the family of the Plantaginaceae. Digitalis ssp. is used exclusively for the isolation of individual cardiac glycosides, principally digoxin and lanatoside C. Cardenolides from Digitalis are well known and frequently used as pharmaceuticals for the treatment of heart disorders. An overview of recent studies which have been used using various approaches of plant tissue, organ culture, regeneration, cryopreservation, and transformation of Digitalis ssp. is presented. This chapter summarizes the recent research work of various in vitro culture of Digitalis ssp. through abiotic, biotic elicitors, and precursor feeding applied to Digitalis cultural system and their stimulating effects on the accumulation of cardenolides.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aawad ZJ, Al-Khateeb EH (2006) Using tissue culture technique for the production of cardiac glycosides from roots of Digitalis purpurea L plantlets (Var. Excelsior Mixed). Iraqi J Pharm 15(1):92–98
Arrillaga I, Brisa MC, Segura J (1987) Somatic embryogenesis from hypocotyl callus cultures of Digitalis obscura L. Plant Cell Rep 6:223–226
Berggren B, Ohlsson AB (1991) Ultrastructure of Digitalis lanata tissue cultures. Effect of gibberellic acid and SAN 9789. Protoplasma 161:58–69
Berglund T, Ohlsson AB (1992) Effects of ethylene and aminoethoxyvinylglycine on cardenolide accumulation in tissue cultures of Digitalis lanata. J Plant Physiol 140:395–398
Bosila HA, Mohamed S, Gamal SE, Bekhit M (2003) Factors affecting callus production and glycosidal content of leaf tissue culture of Digitalis lanata Ehrh. Acta Hortic 597:289–301
Bota C, Deliu C (2011) The effect of copper sulphate on the production of flavonoids in Digitalis lanata cell cultures. Farmacia 59(1):113–118
Brauchler C, Meimberg H, Heubl G (2004) Molecular phylogeny of the genera Digitalis L. and Isoplexis (Lindley) Loudon (Veronicaceae) based on ITS and trnL-F sequences. Plant Syst Evol 248:111–128
Cacho M, Moran M, Herrera MM, Fernandez-Tarrago J, Corchete MP (1991) Morphogenesis in leaf, hypocotyl and root explants of Digitalis thapsi L. cultured in vitro. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 25:117–123
Cacho M, Moran M, Fernandez-Tarrago J, Corchete P (1995) Calcium restriction induces cardenolide accumulation in cell suspension cultures of Digitalis thapsi L. Plant Cell Rep 14:786–789
Cacho M, Moran M, Corchete P, Fernandez-Tarrago J (1999) Effect of calcium restriction on cardenolide accumulation in two cell lines of Digitalis thapsi grown under different light regimes. Acta Physiol Plant 21(4):335–340
Chavan SP, Nitnaware KM, Lokhande VH, Nikam TD (2011) Influence of growth regulators and elicitors on cell growth and α-tocopherol and pigment productions in cell cultures of Carthamus tinctorius L. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 89:1701–1707
Corchete MP, Jimenez MA, Moran M, Cacho M, Fernandez-Tarrago J (1991) Effect of calcium, manganese and lithium on growth and cardenolide content in cell suspension cultures of Digitalis thapsi L. Plant Cell Rep 10:394–396
Corduan G, Spix C (1975) Haploid callus and regeneration of plants from anthers of Digitalis purpurea L. Planta (Berl) 124:1–11
Corduk NE, Aki C (2010) Direct shoot organogenesis of Digitalis trojana Ivan., an endemic medicinal herb of Turkey. Afr J Biotechnol 9(11):1587–1591
Diettrich B, Popov AS, Pfeiffer B, Neumann D, Butenko R, Luckner M (1982) Cryopreservation of Digitalis lanata cell cultures. Planta Med 46(10):82–87
Eisenbeiss M, Kreis W, Reinhard E (1999) Cardenolide biosynthesis in light- and dark-grown Digitalis lanata shoot cultures. Plant Physiol Biochem 37(1):13–23
Elbaz HA, Stueckle TA, Wang HL, O’Doherty GA, Lowry DT, Sargent LM, Wang L, Dinu CZ, Rojanasakul Y (2012) Digitoxin and a synthetic monosaccharide analog inhibit cell viability in lung cancer cells. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 258:51–60
Fatima Z, Mujib A, Fatima S, Arshi A, Umar S (2009) Callus induction, biomass growth, and plant regeneration in Digitalis lanata Ehrh.: influence of plant growth regulators and carbohydrates. Turk J Bot 33:393–405
Gartner DE, Seitz HU (1993) Enzyme activities in cardenolide-accumulating, mixotrophic shoot cultures of Digitalis purpurea L. J Plant Physiol 141:269–275
Ghanem SA, Aboul-Enein AM, El-Sawy A, Rady MR, Ibrahem MM (2010) In vitro propagation and cardiac glycosides content of Digitalis lanata. Int J Acad Res 2(6):349–356
Goldner EM, Seitz U, Reinhard E (1991) Cryopreservation of Digitalis lanata Ehrh. cell cultures: preculture and freeze tolerance. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 24:19–24
Gurel E, Yucesan B, Aglic E, Gurel S, Verma SK, Sokmen M, Sokmen A (2011) Regeneration and cardiotonic glycoside production in Digitalis davisiana Heywood (Alanya Foxglove). Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 104:217–225
Hagimori M, Matsumoto T, Obi Y (1982) Studies on the production of Digitalis cardenolides by plant tissue culture. II. Effect of light and plant growth substances on digitoxin formation by undifferentiated cells and shoot-forming cultures of Digitalis purpurea L. grown in liquid media. Plant Physiol 69:653–656
Hagimori M, Matsumoto T, Obi Y (1983) Effects of mineral salts, initial pH and precursors on digitoxin formation by shoot-forming cultures of Digitalis purpurea L. grown in liquid media. Agric Biol Chem 47(3):565–571
Herrera MT, Cacho M, Corchete MP, Fernandez-Tarrago J (1990) One step shoot tip multiplication and rooting of Digitalis thapsi L. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 22:179–182
Koga M, Hirashima K, Nakahara T (2000) The transformation system in foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L.) using Agrobacterium rhizogenes and traits of the regenerants. Plant Biotechnol 17(2):99–104
Kreis W (2017) The foxgloves (digitalis) revisited. Planta Med 83:962–976
Kreis W, Hensel KA, Stuhlemmer U (1998) Cardenolide biosynthesis in foxglove. Planta Med 64:491–499
Kreis W, Haug B, Yücesan B (2015) Somaclonal variation of cardenolide content in Heywood’s foxglove, a source for the antiviral cardenolide glucoevatromonoside, regenerated from permanent shoot culture and callus. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 51:35–41
Lapena L, Perez-Bermudez P, Segura J (1992) Factors affecting shoot proliferation and vitrification in Digitalis obscura cultures. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 28:121–124
Lehmann U, Moldenhauer D, Thomar S, Diettrich B, Luckner M (1995) Regeneration of plants from Digitalis lanata cells transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens carrying bacterial genes encoding neomycin phosphotransferase II and β-glucuronidase. J Plant Physiol 147:53–57
Li Y, Gao Z, Piao C, Lu K, Wang Z, Cui ML (2014) A stable and efficient Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of the medicinal plant Digitalis purpurea L. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 172(4):1807–1817
Linsmaier E, Skoog F (1965) Organic growth factor requirements of tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 18:100–127
Luckner M, Wichtl M (2000) Digitalis – Geschichte, Biologie, Chemie, Physiologie, Molekularbiologie, Pharmakologie, medizinische Anwendung. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart
Lui JHC, Staba EJ (1981) Effects of age and growth regulators on serially propagated Digitalis lanata leaf and root cultures. Planta Med 41:90–95
Mohammed A, Yücesan B, Demir-Ordu O, Cihangir C, Eker I, Kreis W, Gürel E (2015) In vitro regeneration and cardenolide determination of an endemic foxglove, Digitalis cariensis (Aegean Foxglove). In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 51:438–444
Munkert J, Geiger D, Meitinger N, Rieck C, Petersen J, Kreis W (2016) Production of natural and semisynthetic cardenolides–a synthetic biology approach. Abstracts/New Biotechnol 33:S1–S213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbt.2016.06.1358
Murashige T, Skoog F (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 15:473–497
Nitseh JP, Nitsch C (1969) Haploid plants from pollen grains. Science 163:85–87
Ohlsson AB (1990) Effects of abscisic acid on cardenolide accumulation and growth in Digitalis lanata tissue cultures. J Plant Physiol 136:510–512
Ohlsson AB, Berglund T (1989) Effects of high MnSO4 levels on cardenolide accumulation by Digitalis lanata tissue cultures in light and darkness. J Plant Physiol 135:505–507
Ohlsson AB, Bjork L (1988) Effect of gibberellic acid on cardenolide accumulation by Digitalis lanata tissue culture grown in light and darkness. J Plant Physiol 133:535–538
Ohlsson AB, Bjork L, Gatenbeck S (1983) Effect of light on cardenolide production by Digitalis lanata tissue cultures. Phytochemistry 22(11):2447–2450
Pádua RM, Meitinger N, Dias de Souza JF, Waibel R, Gmeiner P, Braga FC, Kreis W (2012) Biotransformation of 21-O-acetyl-deoxycorticosterone by cell suspension cultures of Digitalis lanata (strain W.1.4). Steroids 77:1373–1380
Patil JG, Ahire ML, Nitnaware KM, Panda S, Bhatt VP, Kishor PBK, Nikam TD (2013) In vitro propagation and production of cardiotonic glycosides in shoot cultures of Digitalis purpurea L. by elicitation and precursor feeding. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:2379–2393
Pérez-Alonso N, Wilken D, Gerth A, Jahn A, Nitzsche HM, Kerns G, Capote-Perez A, Jiménez E (2009) Cardiotonic glycosides from biomass of Digitalis purpurea L. cultured in temporary immersion systems. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 99:151–156
Perez-Alonso N, Capote A, Gerth A, Jimenez E (2012) Increased cardenolides production by elicitation of Digitalis lanata shoots cultured in temporary immersion systems. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 110:153–162
Pérez-Alonso N, Chong-Perez B, Capote A, Perez A, Izquierdo Y, Angenon G, Jimenez E (2014a) Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of Digitalis purpurea L. Plant Biotechnol Rep 8:387–397
Pérez-Alonso N, Labrada FA, Capote A, Pérez A, Sosa R, Mollineda A, Gonzalez EJ (2014b) Stimulation of cardenolides production in Digitalis purpurea L. shoot cultures by elicitors addition. Rev Colomb Biotecnol XVI(1):51–61
Pérez-Alonso N, Martín R, Capote A, Pérez A, Hernández-Díaz EK, Rojas L, Jiménez E, Quiala E, Angenon G, Garcia-Gonzales R, Chong-Pérez B (2018) Efficient direct shoot organogenesis, genetic stability and secondary metabolite production of micropropagated Digitalis purpurea L. Ind Crop Prod 116:259–266
Perez-Bermudez P, Brisa MC, Cornejo MJ, Segura J (1984) In vitro morphogenesis from excised leaf explants of Digitalis obscura L. Plant Cell Rep 3:8–9
Perez-Bermudez P, Garcia AAM, Tunon I, Gavidia I (2010) Digitalis purpurea P5βR2, encoding steroid 5β-reductase, is a novel defense-related gene involved in cardenolide biosynthesis. New Phytol 185:687–700
Pradel H, Dumke-Lehmann U, Diettrich B, Luckner M (1997) Hairy root cultures of Digitalis lanata. Secondary metabolism and plant regeneration. J Plant Physiol 151:209–215
Roden DM (2001) Drugs effecting renal and cardiovascular system. In: Gilman GA, Hardman JG, Limbird LE (eds) The pharmacological basis of therapeutics. McGraw Hill, New York, p 920
Sahin G, Verma SK, Gurel E (2013) Calcium and magnesium elimination enhances accumulation of cardenolides in callus cultures of endemic Digitalis species of Turkey. Plant Physiol Biochem 73:139–143
Saito K, Yamazaki M, Shimomura K, Yoshimatsu K, Murakoshi I (1990) Genetic transformation of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) by chimeric foreign genes and production of cardioactive glycosides. Plant Cell Rep 9:121–124
Sales E, Nebauer SG, Arrillaga I, Segura J (2001) Cryopreservation of Digitalis obscura selected genotypes by encapsulation-dehydration. Planta Med 67:833–838
Sales E, Segura J, Arrillaga I (2003) Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of the cardenolide-producing plant Digitalis minor L. Planta Med 69:143–147
Seitz HU, Gartner DE (1994) Enzymes in cardenolide-accumulating shoot cultures of Digitalis purpurea L. Plant Cell Tissue Organ Cult 38:337–344
Seitz U, Alfermann AW, Reinhard E (1983) Stability of biotransformation capacity in Digitalis lanata cell cultures after cryogenic storage. Plant Cell Rep 2:273–276
Trosset JY, Carbonell P (2015) Synthetic biology for pharmaceutical drug discovery. Drug Des Devel Ther 9:6285–6302
Vela S, Gavidia I, Perez-Bermijdez P, Segura J (1991) Micropropagation of juvenile and adult Digitalis obscura and cardenolide content of clonally propagated plants. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 27:143–146
Verma SK, Yucesan BB, Şahin G, Gurel S, Gurel E (2011a) Direct shoot regeneration from leaf explants of Digitalis lamarckii, an endemic medicinal species. Turk J Bot 35:689–695
Verma SK, Yucesan BB, Gurel S, Gurel E (2011b) Indirect somatic embryogenesis and shoot organogenesis from cotyledonary leaf segments of Digitalis lamarckii Ivan., an endemic medicinal species. Turk J Biol 35:743–750
Verma SK, Sahin G, Yucesan B, Eker I, Sahbaz N, Gurel S, Gurel E (2012) Direct somatic embryogenesis from hypocotyl segments of Digitalis trojana Ivan and subsequent plant regeneration. Ind Crop Prod 40:76–80
Verma SK, Sahin G, Gurel E (2016) Somatic embryogenesis, pigment accumulation and synthetic seed production in Digitalis davisiana Heywood. Indian J Exp Biol 54:245–253
Verma SK, Das AK, Gantait S, Gurel S, Gurel E (2018) Influence of auxin and its polar transport inhibitor on the development of somatic embryos in Digitalis trojana. 3 Biotech 8:99
White PR (1943) A handbook of plant tissue culture. Jaques Cattell Press, Tempe
Yücesan B, Müller-Uri F, Kreis W, Gürel E (2014) Cardenolide estimation in callus-mediated regenerants of Digitalis lamarckii Ivanina (dwarf foxglove). In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 50:137–142
Yücesan B, Mohammed A, Eker I, Sameeullah M, Demir-Ordu O, Cihangir C, Şahbaz N, Kaya O, Müller-Uri F, Kreis W, Gürel E (2016) In vitro propagation and cardenolide profiling of Digitalis ferruginea subsp. schischkinii, a medicinally important foxglove species with limited distribution in Northern Turkey. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 52:322–329
Yücesan BB, Eker I, Lazzarini LES, Aslam N, Mohammed A, Pinto JEBP, Kreis W, Gürel E (2018) Shoot-tip cultivation and cardenolide content analysis of natural populations of Digitalis lanata Ehrh. subsp. lanata (wooly foxglove) in Thrace region. Int J Agric Wildl Sci 4:55–62
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rady, M.R. (2019). Plant Biotechnology and Foxglove. In: Plant Biotechnology and Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22929-0_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22929-0_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22928-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22929-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)