Micropropagation of Agave salmiana: Means to Production of Antioxidant and Bioactive Principles

Abstract

Maguey, Agave salmiana, is an important plant for the “pulque” beverage and functional food industries; however, it has several constraints for elite and homogeneous plant production. In this study, a micropropagation process was established to generate in vitro plants. The effect of the method on metabolite content and antioxidant (AOX) activity in regenerated plants was evaluated. Young germinated plantlets were micropropagated from axillary shoots using Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with L2 vitamins, 0.04 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 10 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine. Total soluble sugars from the aqueous fraction and total phenolic acids, total saponins, and AOX activity of the methanol fraction were determined in wild-type (WT) plants, in in vitro (IN) plants, and ex vitro acclimated plants (EN). The results showed that IN plants have a 50% lower soluble sugar content compared to WT, and EN. The total phenolic acids content was at least 30% higher in micropropagated (IN) and regenerated (EN) plants compared to WT. The total saponin content in IN, and EN plants was 36 and 25 times higher compared to WT. The AOX capacity of IN plants was on average three times higher compared to other treatments. However, no correlation was found between the AOX activity and total phenolic acids or total saponins. A negative and significant correlation (r = –0.927; p = 0.003) was found between the AOX activity and the total soluble sugars content. Micropropagated plants of A. salmiana have a different phytochemical content and bioactivity after the in vitro process compared to WT plants. The micropropagation process could be used as a platform for phytochemical enhancement of Agave plants.

Hunting Bioactive Molecules from the Agave Genus: An Update on Extraction and Biological Potential

“…Therefore, those extracts that belonged to drought regions accumulated -di or -tri glycosylated flavonoids; these compounds can provide better tolerance to drought stress [30]. Other studies on other Agave species demonstrated that drought stress induced an increase in these compounds and other secondary metabolites [31,32].…”

Agave pulquero (Agave salmiana), socio-economic and agro-ecological importance and its development perspectives: a literature review

“…The research by MONJA-MIO et al, (2019) and NAVA-CRUZ et al, (2015), highlights the importance of in situ, in vivo, and in vitro techniques for the conservation of germplasm. Biotechnological development is essential to optimize the production, diversification, and technology transfer of agave pulquero in the future (PUENTE-GARZA et al, 2015).…”

“…Blas-Yañez & Thomé-Ortiz (ESCALANTE et al, 2004;TOVAR-ROBLES et al, 2011) to infer its usefulness in gastrointestinal disorders (VILLAREAL-MORALES et al, 2019;MIRAMONTES-CORONA et al, 2019), and develop functional foods (RIVERA et al, 2010;FRÍAS et al, 2016;GILES-GÓMEZ et al, 2016); ii) agricultural biotechnology for genetic improvement (MONJA-MIO et al, 2019), in vitro micropropagation (SILOS-ESPINO et al, 2007) and obtaining active components of industrial interest (PUENTE-GARZA et al, 2015 ). iii) Energy biotechnology to obtain cellulose (NAVA-CRUZ et al, 2015), bioethanol (DAVIS et al, 2011;HOLTUM et al, 2011;LÁINEZ et al, 2019), biogas, and hydrogen (RIVERA-VARGAS et al, 2016), light biomaterials (NARVÁEZ-ZAPATA & SÁNCHEZ-TEYER, 2009) and as an adherent of composite polymers (HAQUE et al, 2016).…”

In Vitro-Propagation of Agave tequilana Weber cv. azul in a Temporary Immersion System

“…Somatic embryogenesis was also induced, and several plants were obtained [19][20][21][22]. In addition to micropropagation, there are reports on the production of secondary metabolites by cultures of callus tissue [16,23,24].…”