Differences in hypericin synthesis between experimentally induced seedling shoot cultures of Hypericum hookerianum Wight & Arn.

During seed germination trials of Hypericum hookerianum, seedlings of Lake View accession from Palni hills of Southern India segregated into green- (97.44 %) and red-pigmented (2.56 %) types. Seedlings cultured in Murashige and Skoog (1962) basal medium developed into fast growing green and slow growing red plant types in 6 weeks, the latter showing increased concentrations of total phenols, anthocyanins and flavonoids and 19-fold higher concentration of hypericin. Hypocotyls/cotyledons of red seedlings cultured using 2.325 mu M kinetin (KIN) produced hypericin-rich (4.38 +/- A 0.18 mg/g DW), stunted (0.5-1.2 cm) shoots which ceased to grow in 8 weeks. Segments (4-6 mm) of these shoots sub-cultured in the dark for 4 weeks followed by 2-week light exposure and repeated subculture enabled mass multiplication of productive (3.93 +/- A 0.06 mg hypericin/g DW) shoots. Green hypocotyls and cotyledons subjected to 4 + 2 weak dark-light treatment also produced 9.18 +/- A 2.44 and 4.25 +/- A 0.96 comparable hypericin-rich (3.73 +/- A 0.21 mg/g DW) shoots. Red and green seedling explants cultured in basal medium in the dark produced 6.82 +/- A 0.75 cm etiolated shoots with reduced leaves which synthesized 2.27 +/- A 0.15 mg hypericin/g DW on illumination. Green cotyledons cultured in the dark using 2.45 mu M indole-3 butyric acid (IBA) formed calluses which on illumination formed 12.64 +/- A 3.8 productive (3.86 +/- A 0.31 mg hypericin/g DW) 0.5- to 1.5-cm-long shoot clusters. Phenotypic segregation of seedlings, the ability of both red and green seedling explants to multiply in the dark and produce hypericin on illumination, and IBA-induced indirect shoots producing significant amounts of metabolite compared to wild plants (0.35 +/- A 0.09 mg/g DW) and green shoot cultures (0.91 +/- A 0.03 mg/g DW) are new to Hypericum.