Enhancement of taxane production in hairy root culture of Taxus x media var. Hicksii

This study assessed the effect of two precursors (L-phenylatanine and p-amino benzoic acid) used alone or in combination with methyl jasmonate, on the growth and accumulation of paclitaxel, baccatin III and 10-deacetylbaccatin III in hairy root cultures of Taxus x media var. Hicksii. The greatest increase in dry biomass was observed after 4 weeks of culturing hairy roots in medium supplemented with 1 mu M of L-phenylatanine (6.2 g L-1). Addition of 1 mu M of L-phenylalanine to the medium also resulted in the greatest 10-deacetylbaccatin III accumulation (422.7 mu g L-1), which was not detected in the untreated control culture. Supplementation with 100 PM of L-phenylatanine together with 100 mu M of methyl jasmonate resulted in the enhancement of paclitaxel. production from 40.3 mu g L-1 (control untreated culture) to 568.2 mu g L-1, the highest pactitaxet content detected in the study. The effect of p-amino benzoic acid on taxane production was less pronounced, and the highest yield of pactitaxet (221.8 mu g L-1) was observed when the medium was supplemented with 100 mu M of the precursor in combination with methyl jasmonate. Baccatin III was not detected under the conditions used in this experiment and the investigated taxanes were not excreted into the medium. (C) 2009 Elsevier GrnbH. All rights reserved.