Graphical abstract

Centaurium erythraea is medicinal plant with high content of secoiridoid glycosides and xanthones with gastroprotective, hepatoprotective and antioxidative properties. In vitro culture based C. erythraea production would offer sustainable and economically feasible alternative to wild plant harvest provided that comparable productivity could be achieved in artificially propagated plants. To identify most productive C. erythraea system the secoiridoid glycoside and xanthone production and profiles using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry were assessed in in vitro shoot, callus and cell suspension culture-derived material in comparison with wild C. erythraea plants.In vitro shoot culture was the most productive system for C. erythraea secoiridoid production (total yield 86 mg g -1 dw) and cell culture was the most productive system for phenolic compound production (19 mg GAE g -1 dw). The effect of elicitors yeast extract, methyljasmonate (MeJA) and chitosan on secondary metabolite yield indicated that elicitation with MeJA and chitosan significantly decreased yield of sweroside and eustomin, respectively. Significant quantitative differences of major secoiridoids and xanthones indicated that further methodological improvements for increasing yield of major secondary metabolites of in vitro origin need to be explored for in vitro cultivation to become a feasible alternative to C. erythraea wild plant harvest.

Fungi colonizing the surface and endosphere of two widespread Poaceae weed species, Avena fatua and Echinochloa crus-galli, were isolated to compare the taxonomic composition between the plant species, location, and year of the seed collection. The seed-degrading potential of Fusarium isolated from the seeds was tested by inoculating seeds of E. crus-galli with spore suspension. Molecular identification of epiphytic and endophytic fungal genera was performed by sequencing the ITS region of rDNA. Endophytes comprised of significantly lower fungal richness compared to epiphytes. A significant taxonomic overlap was observed between the endosphere and seed surface. The most abundant genera were Alternaria, Fusarium, Cladosporium, and Sarocladium. Analysis of similarities and hierarchical clustering showed that microbial communities were more dissimilar between the two plant species than between the years. Fusarium isolates with a high potential to infect and degrade E. crus-galli seeds in laboratory conditions belong to F. sporotrichioides and F. culmorum.

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