Enhancement of Plumbagin Production in Cell Suspension Derived from Hairy Root of Plumbago indica L. by Methyl Jasmonate Elicitation in B5 Medium

Abstract

Plumbago indica L. is one of the important Thai herb which its root is the main source of plumbagin. Plumbagin has pharmacological activities such as anticancer and antimicrobial activities. The aim of this research is to enhance plumbagin production of cell suspension derived from hairy root of P. indica L.. The cell suspension was cultured for 30 days in three different media: Murashige and Skoog (MS), Gamborg (B5) and Schenk and Hidebrandt (SH). The result indicated that cell suspension cultured in B5 and SH media had similar growth but better growth than in MS medium. For plumbagin production, as analyzed by HPLC, revealed that the cells cultured in B5 medium could produce highest amount of plumbagin. Therefore, in this experiment, B5 was the most suitable medium for plumbagin production. Thereafter, cell growth and plumbagin production of cell suspension cultured in B5 medium in the culture cycle of 30 days were studied. The result indicated that cell suspension was in exponential phase during the 6^th-18^th day of culture. However, plumbagin was firstly detected in the 12^th day and reach the maximum production in the 24^th day of culture. The use of methyl jasmonate to elicit plumbagin production from cell suspension was also studied. Methyl jasmonate at the final concentrations of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 μM were added to cell suspension culture. The elicitation was started at the 18^th day of culture in which cells were in the exponential phase of growth. The results showed that 40 μM methyl jasmonate could elicit cells to produce maximum amount of plumbagin of 7.14 mg/l media which was 3.24 times over the control at the first day after elicitation.