Production of Pharmaceuticals from Papaver Cultivars in Vitro

Abstract

Iranian (Papaver bracteatum Lindl.) and opium poppy (P. somniferum L.) plantlets obtained from germinated seeds grown on a Murashige and Skoog basal medium (BM) readily manifest alkaloids. Temperature had a profound effect on growth and alkaloid production after 8 weeks in culture. Plantlets of poppy cultivars (cvs.) grew best at 18.5 and 20°C compared to 15 or 25°C. An alkaloid survey study with 24 Iranian and 21 opium poppy cvs. revealed that total morphinan alkaloids ranged from 0 to 6.55 mg/g dw. Prolific axillary branching was achieved from poppy cvs. by maintaining shoots on BM containing 1.0 mg/L N6‐benzyladenine and 0.01 mg/L α‐naphthalene acetic acid for an additional 16 weeks. The influence of vessel size on the growth response of established shoot clumps was determined by subculture in a variety of culture vessels for 8 weeks. The tested culture vessels included culture tubes (55 mm3 capacity (cap.)), babyfood jars (143 mm3 cap.), Magenta GA‐7 containers (365 mm3 cap.), and polycarbonate jars (1890 mm3 cap.) employing an in vitro hydroponics system (i.e. an automated plant culture system (APCS)). Highest growth rates occurred employing the APCS. The culture vessel capacity had a significant positive correlation on shoot length, fresh weight, number of leaves, and number of shoots. Shoot length, fresh weight, leaves, and shoots grown in the APCS exhibited increases of 1‐, 21.5‐, 7.8‐, and 8.3‐fold, respectively, compared to shoots grown in culture tubes. Higher culture growth rates that occurred in the larger‐size vessels were correlated with lower alkaloid production (mg alkaloids/g dw). However, the overall total alkaloids/vessel [(mg alkaloid/g dw)×g culture dw] increased because of greater biomass production per vessel. The alkaloid content was found to remain stable for shoots grown over a 6–month evaluation period.

High frequency somatic embryogenesis, regeneration and correlation of alkaloid biosynthesis with gene expression in Papaver somniferum

“…Latex contained all the five alkaloids measured in the analysis. Content of specific alkaloids is similar to as reported by our ) and other groups (Tisseral and Berhow 2009;Frick et al 2005). Likewise, the accumulation of secondary metabolites was significantly higher in field grown plants than in embryogenic and non embryogenic callus cultures.…”

Establishment and optimization of cell growth in suspension culture of Papaver bracteatum: a biotechnology approach for thebaine production

“…The cell biomass of the suspension culture was harvested 12 and 16 days after culture initiation and freezedried. Alkaloids of 1.5-2 g dried cells were extracted by the acidic methanol method (Tisserat and Berhow, 2009) with few modifications. Eight milliliters of extraction solution consisting of 40% methanol, 59.5% water, and 0.5% acetic acid was added to samples, followed by sonication for 12 min.…”

Bioactive Natural Products from Plants and Biotechnological Approaches for their Production

“…Thebaine is a precursor of codeine which is converted to codeine and simultaneously to morphine. Because of the low activity of enzymes involved in demethylation of codeine and morphine, the yields of codeine and morphine is low in Papaver bracteatum [126]. Latex from the opium poppy (P. somniferum) is a commercial source of the analgesics, morphine and codeine.…”