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Biotechnological Approaches for Biomass and Cardenolide Production in Digitalis purpurea L.

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Protocols for In Vitro Cultures and Secondary Metabolite Analysis of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Second Edition

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1391))

Abstract

Digitalis purpurea L. is one of the main economically viable sources of cardenolides (cardiac glycosides) for the pharmaceutical industry. Nevertheless, production of cardenolides in plants grown by traditional agriculture is not always an efficient process and can be affected by biotic and abiotic factors. This chapter provides two biotechnology strategies for biomass and cardenolide production in D. purpurea. Firstly, we report biomass production using a temporary immersion system (TIS), combined with cardenolide extraction and quantification. Secondly, an efficient protocol for genetic transformation via Agrobacterium tumefaciens is provided. These strategies can be used independently or combined in order to increase the content of cardiac glycosides in D. purpurea and to unravel biosynthetic pathways associated to cardiac glycoside production.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the support of the EU through the ALFA Network CARIBIOTEC (project AML/B7-311/97/0666/II-0201), the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), and the Institutional University Collaboration programme with Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas funded by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR-IUC UCLV).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Instituto de Biotecnología de las Plantas, Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, Carretera a Camajuaní km 5,5, CP 54830, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba

      Naivy Pérez-Alonso, Borys Chong-Pérez, Alina Capote, Anabel Pérez & Elio Jiménez

    2. Laboratory of Plant Genetics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 1050, Belgium

      Borys Chong-Pérez & Geert Angenon

    3. VITA 34 AG, Deutscher Platz 5a, Leipzig, D-04103, Germany

      André Gerth

    4. Tropical Research and Education Center, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, 18905 SW 280th Street, Homestead, FL, 33031, USA

      Elio Jiménez

    Authors
    1. Naivy Pérez-Alonso
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    2. Borys Chong-Pérez
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    3. Alina Capote
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    4. Anabel Pérez
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    5. André Gerth
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    6. Geert Angenon
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    7. Elio Jiménez
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    Correspondence to Naivy Pérez-Alonso .

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    Editors and Affiliations

    1. Applied Biology, Univ of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

      S.Mohan Jain

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    Pérez-Alonso, N. et al. (2016). Biotechnological Approaches for Biomass and Cardenolide Production in Digitalis purpurea L.. In: Jain, S. (eds) Protocols for In Vitro Cultures and Secondary Metabolite Analysis of Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Second Edition. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1391. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3332-7_6

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3332-7_6

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    • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

    • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3330-3

    • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3332-7

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