Effect of plant growth regulators on alkaloid the production in cell cultures of Chilean Amaryllidaceae: Rhodophiala pratensis, Rhodophiala splendens, Rhodophiala advena, and Rhodolirium speciosum

Amaryllidaceae plants are well known for producing isoquinoline-type alkaloids which have important biological activities, however the production of these secondary metabolites in plants is very low, it's necessary to study mechanisms to increase the productivity of them. Our study shows the alkaloids composition on the wild bulbs and in vitro bulbs of four species Chilean Amaryllidaceae. Qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of alkaloid extracts carried out by GC/MS-MS we found a total of 48 different alkaloids produced in wild plants and in vitro culture; 38 alkaloids were identified. These results suggest that different combinations of auxins and cytokinins can modulate plant biochemical pathways that regulate alkaloid biogenesis and show the high potential that plants of the Amaryllidaceae family have to produce lycorine type alkaloids. This study allowed knowing the content of alkaloids in wild and in vitro bulbs of the studied species. These results enable to establish the culture media with 4.44 mu M BAP and 2.70 mu M NAA and 2.20 mu M BAP and 5.40 mu M NAA increased the production of lycorine-type alkaloids for R. advena and R. pratensis respectively, therefore it is able to promote oxidative phenol coupling via ortho-para' and demonstrates how it is possible to direct the production of these molecules through the use of phytohormones in in vitro culture. Finally, we can say that the results confirm that micropropagation is a good tool to produce this type of alkaloids. Key message Amaryllidaceae alkaloid biosynthesis by the plant in vitro systems and the effect of plant growth regulators on the biosynthetic route and its mode of action is reviewed to provide a starting point for scaling-up of the production of these valuable medicinal alkaloids.

Automated summary

This study identified the alkaloid composition in bulbs of different species of Amaryllidaceae plants and found that certain combinations of plant growth regulators can increase the production of lycorine-type alkaloids. The results suggest that micropropagation is an effective tool for producing these alkaloids.