Production of plumbagin from Plumbago rosea cell cultures: materials, methods and analytical approach

Apuntes

Biotechnology Letters 23: 1269–1272, 2001. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 1269 Production of plumbagin from cell cultures of Plumbago rosea L. P. Komaraiah 1 , P.B. Kavi Kishor 1,∗ & S.V. Ramakrishna 2 1 Department of Genetics, Osmania University, Hyderabad 500 007, India 2 Biochemical and Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad 500 007, India ∗ Author for correspondence (Fax: +91-40-701 9020; E-mail: pbkavi@yahoo.com) Received 23 April 2001; Revisions requested 24 April 2001/18 May 2001; Revisions received 17 May 2001/30 May 2001; Accepted 30 May 2001 Key words: cell aggregates, cell cultures, plumbagin, Plumbaginaceae, Plumbago rosea Abstract Callus and suspension cultures derived from leaf explants of Plumbago rosea were established and plumbagin, a naphthoquinone, was isolated from them and confirmed by 1 H NMR and electron-ionization mass spectroscopy. Maximum content of plumbagin was obtained in the stationary phase of growth (4.3 mg g −1 dry cell wt). Media pH, phytohormones and carbon sources were optimized for biomass and plumbagin accumulation. Cell aggre- gates, measuring 500 μm in diam, pro...