Abstract
The most biologically active component of vitamin E, α-tocopherol, is synthesized in its most effective stereoisomeric form only by photosynthetic organisms. Using sunflower cell cultures, a suitable in vitro production system of natural α-tocopherol was established. The most efficient medium was found to be MS basal medium with naphthaleneacetic acid and 6-benzylaminopurine with the addition of casaminoacids and myo-inositol. Culture feeding experiments using biosynthetic precursors showed that α-tocopherol production improved by 30% when homogentisic acid was used. Interestingly, time-course experiments with sunflower suspension cultures showed a possible increase of 78% in α-tocopherol production when using cultures of longer subculture intervals. Compared to the starting plant tissue, an overall 100% increase of α-tocopherol was reached by these sunflower cell cultures.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Prof. Laura De Gara and Dr. Giovanni Mita for their critical reading of the manuscript and helpful discussions. The technical assistance provided by Mr. Leone D’Amico is sincerely appreciated by the authors. This work was supported by Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca Scientifica, project no. 7, cluster C05.
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Communicated by J.M. Widholm
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Caretto, S., Bray Speth, E., Fachechi, C. et al. Enhancement of vitamin E production in sunflower cell cultures. Plant Cell Rep 23, 174–179 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-004-0799-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-004-0799-6