Different responses of shoot and root cultures of Glehnia littoralis to yeast extract

Abstract

Differentiated shoot and root cultures of Glehnia littoralis were examined for organ-specific responses to yeast extract (YE). Growth, and changes in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4. 1. 3. 5) activity, as well as furanocoumarin and simple phenylpropanoid production were then determined. YE affected root growth positively but negatively affected the growth of both the leaf and petiole. PAL activity was induced in all organs and reached a maximum after 2 days of treatment, though the activity in leaves was about three times higher than that in roots. A large amount of p-coumaric acid (p-CA) was transiently excreted into the culture medium of leaves, which has only been rarely reported to date. Subsequently, bergapten and xanthotoxin appeared in the medium. In contrast, no furanocoumarin was detected in the root cultures throughout the course of treatment. Changes in simple phenylpropanoid contents such as p-CA, caffeic acid (CafA) and ferulic acid (FA) in tissues were analyzed in three forms, i.e., free, soluble-conjugated and insoluble-conjugated forms. In leaves, little difference between control and YE-treated tissues was found except free p-CA, but every form of simple phenylpropanoid was increasingly elicited in the roots. These results indicate that YE acts bi-functionally on the root as a nutrient and an elicitor, but only as an elicitor in the leaf.

Iron availability alters ascorbate-induced stress metabolism in Glehnia littoralis root cultures

“…littoralis roots that a moderate amount of free ferulic acid and a small amount of free p-hydroxycinnamic acid were detectable after yeast-extract treatment and that these exhibited a transient increase followed by a decrease, in good agreement with the increases observed in their cell-wall-bound forms (Ishikawa et al, 2007). Elicitation by AsA under iron-deficient conditions did not lead to furanocoumarin biosynthesis, but the production of cell-wall 9 phenolics could nevertheless be increased.…”

Increased furanocoumarin production by Glehnia littoralis roots induced via Agrobacterium rhizogenes infection

“…For example, our research group has worked to produce furanocoumarins by using in vitro cells and organs of Glehnia littoralis subjected to elicitor treatment. However, the cell cultures from our study produced only bergapten, while leaf (but not root) cultures produced both bergapten and xanthotoxin following treatment with yeast extract (YE) (Ishikawa et al 2007). Subsequent studies revealed that ascorbic acid (AsA) functioned as a powerful inducer of furanocoumarin production in organ cultures, especially in root cultures (Ishikawa et al 2008).…”

“…Previously, we established root clones of G. littoralis using A. rhizogenes LBA9402, but none of the clones grew without ampicillin (Rahman et al 2004). Hence, in the current study, 10 clones that had been randomly selected from 100 clones were maintained in 25 ml of Murashige and Skoog (1962) (MS) basal medium supplemented with 5 mg l Ϫ1 of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) in a 100 ml Erlenmeyer flask at 25°C and 80 rpm in the dark, with subcultures every 6 weeks, as described for normal root cultures of G. littoralis (Ishikawa et al 2007).…”

Constitutive expression of bergaptol O-methyltransferase in Glehnia littoralis cell cultures

“…In all cases, non-induced control cultures showed no enzyme activity at all. Similarly, furanocoumarins were also induced in G. littoralis white cell and shoot cultures by yeast-extract treatment (Ishikawa et al 2007;Kitamura et al 1998). …”