Elicitation-Based Method for Increasing the Production of Antioxidant and Bactericidal Phenolic Compounds in Dionaea muscipula J. Ellis Tissue

Abstract

The carnivorous plant Dionaea muscipula J. Ellis (Venus flytrap) is a widely known medical herb, capable of producing various phenolic compounds known for their strong antioxidant and antibacterial properties. In the pharmaceutical industry, Venus flytrap is grown in tissue cultures, as the natural population of D. muscipula is very limited. Here, we describe an improved method to increase the quantity and quality of phenolic compounds produced in D. muscipula. This is achieved by combining biotic elicitation (using Cronobacter sakazakii bacteria lysate) of D. muscipula cultured with rotary shaking (hydromechanical stress), which we describe here for the first time. The antibacterial activity and the antioxidant properties of the obtained compounds were studied on two antibiotic-resistant human pathogenic bacteria. The proposed plant culture conditions resulted in an increase in fresh weight, as well as a higher total phenolic content, in comparison to traditional tissue cultures on agar-solidified medium. With the use of high-performance liquid chromatography, we demonstrated that the described elicitation strategy leads to an increased synthesis of myricetin, caffeic acid, ellagic acid and plumbagin in D. muscipula tissue. We also found that a higher level of antioxidant activity, exhibited by the plant extract, corresponded with its higher phenylpropanoid content. The bactericidal activity of the extract against Staphylococcus aureus was dependent on the duration of plant culture under described elicitation conditions, whereas neither elicitation condition (duration or elicitor concentration) seemed relevant for the bactericidal activity of the extract towards Escherichia coli. This suggest that Gram-negative bacteria are less sensitive to compounds derived from Venus flytrap tissue.

Transformed tissue of Dionaea muscipula J. Ellis as a source of biologically active phenolic compounds with bactericidal properties

“…Next, transformed clones were subcultured on fresh MS media without antibiotic growth regulators. Transformed clones of D. muscipula were propagated for 8 weeks in liquid media, as described by Makowski et al ( 2020 ). During this time, observations of plant morphology, growth rate, and preliminary screening for phenolic compound quantity in comparison to non-transformed plants were performed.…”

“…The healing properties of these plants arise from the ability to produce large amounts of phenolic compounds with strong biological activity (Gaascht et al 2013 ). Extracts from carnivorous plant tissues were proven to have antibacterial (Krolicka et al 2008 ; Makowski et al 2020 ), antioxidative (Królicka et al 2009 ; Makowski et al 2020 ), antifungal (Padhye et al 2010 ), and anticancer properties (Kawiak et al 2019 ). Moreover, previous phytochemical studies showed that the species most abundant in phenolic derivatives in the family Droseraceae is D. muscipula (Gaascht et al 2013 ).…”

“…The major 1,4-naphtoquinone derivative in the biochemical composition of the Venus flytrap is plumbagin. Furthermore, concentrations of this metabolite in D. muscipula tissue are higher than in other commonly used sources of plumbagin, like Plumbago plants (Makowski et al 2020 ).…”

Elicitor-Induced Production of Biomass and Pharmaceutical Phenolic Compounds in Cell Suspension Culture of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

“…Elicitors are stress inducers that stimulate secondary pathways resulting in the synthesis of bioactive compounds. Abiotic and biotic elicitors were employed in vitro to induce a large quantity of bioactive compounds (alkaloids, alkamides, glucosinolates, terpenes, saponins, flavonoids, steroids, phenolics, and coumarins) within a short period of time [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Elicitors of fungal, bacterial, and yeast extract (YE), heavy metals, and hormonal origin were studied for various bioactive compound synthesis [ 6 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”

Biological Activities of Natural Products

“…Makowski et al [23] present the effects of biotic (Cronobacter sakazakii) and abiotic (shaking-hydromechanical stress) elicitation of cells from in vitro culture of the carnivorous endemic plant species grown in North and South Carolina-Dionaea muscipula. The best results (increase in fresh weight, higher total phenolic content, elevated synthesis of phenolics, and plumbagin) were observed after the combined elicitation.…”