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Accumulation of anthocyanin in callus cultures of red-pod okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Hongjiao] in response to light and nitrogen levels

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Abstract

Nitrogen and light are critical determinants of biomass accumulation and secondary metabolite production under in vitro culture conditions. In this study, we analyzed the effects of varied concentrations of total nitrogen in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium and light intensity on the production of biomass, anthocyanin pigments, and bioactive antioxidants in callus cultures of Abelmoschus esculentus cv. ‘Hongjiao’. Maximum callus biomass accumulation (3 g FW) was achieved when calluses were cultured on MS medium containing 60 mM nitrogen under 40 μmol m− 2 s− 1 light intensity. In contrast, maximum values of total anthocyanin accumulation (TA; 7.3 CV/g FW), total phenolic content (TP; 12.07 mg/100 g FW), total flavonoid content (TF; 2.47 ± 0.15 mg/100 g FW), and total antioxidant activity (TAA; 56.10 μmol Trolox/g FW) were observed when calluses were cultured on MS medium containing 40 mM total nitrogen under 80 μmol m− 2 s− 1 light intensity. In addition, callus grown under same culture condition exhibited high flavonoid content along with increased phenolic content and antioxidant activity. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed for qualitative and quantity analysis of callus cultures. Most of the pigments from the callus extracts were identical with pod anthocyanins, and appeared on the ODS-column HPLC with lower concentration than the main pigments of the pod tissues. These findings indicate that callus cultures of red-pod okra represent a potential source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties for industrial applications.

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Acknowledgements

The financial assistance from the FAFU scholarship program, provided by the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University of China, is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Horticulture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002, China

    Muhammad Irshad, Biswojit Debnath, Sangeeta Mitra, Min Li, Yueting Sun & Dongliang Qiu

  2. Institute of Agroecology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350002, China

    Yasir Arafat

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  1. Muhammad Irshad
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  2. Biswojit Debnath
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  4. Yasir Arafat
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  5. Min Li
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  6. Yueting Sun
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  7. Dongliang Qiu
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Contributions

MI designed and carried out all the experiments, prepared the manuscript, BD helped in performing the experiments, MS helped in statistical analysis and revised the manuscript, YA helped in HPLC analysis, ML and YT helped in performing biochemical analysis, DLQ conceived the work, revised and finalized the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dongliang Qiu.

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No authors have pertinent conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Communicated by Sergio J. Ochatt.

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Irshad, M., Debnath, B., Mitra, S. et al. Accumulation of anthocyanin in callus cultures of red-pod okra [Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Hongjiao] in response to light and nitrogen levels. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 134, 29–39 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-018-1397-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-018-1397-6

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