Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Elicitation of Valerenic Acid in the Hairy Root Cultures of Valeriana officinalis L (Valerianaceae)

Mohammad Reza Dini Torkamani¹ , Naser Abbaspour¹, Morad Jafari^2,3, Afsaneh Samadi⁴

¹Department of Biology, Faculty of Science; ²Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture; ³Depatment of Agricultural Biotechnology, Institute of Biotechnology, University of Urmia, Urmia; ⁴Farhangian University, Fatemeh Al Zahra Pardis, Tabriz, Iran.

For correspondence:- Mohammad Torkamani Email: dr.torkamani@gmail.com Tel:+9809141477827

Received: 22 July 2013 Accepted: 23 March 2014 Published: 26 June 2014

Citation: Torkamani MR, Abbaspour N, Jafari M, Samadi A. Elicitation of Valerenic Acid in the Hairy Root Cultures of Valeriana officinalis L (Valerianaceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(6):943-949 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i6.17

© 2014 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of magnesium and calcium as abiotic elicitors on Valeriana officinalis hairy roots for scale-up production of valerenic acid.

Methods: Hairy roots were established in different explants of Valeriana officinalis via a mikimopine type strain of Agrobacterium rhizogenes ‘A13’. Transgenic status of hairy roots was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the rolB gene. Hairy roots of 28-day old cultures were exposed to magnesium and calcium (2 to 6-fold concentration of that present in normal Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium for 3 and 7 days. After elicitation, the cultures were grown in MS liquid medium without elicitors for 8 weeks. Valerenic acid content in hairy roots was analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the best yield conditions.

Results: Transformed cultures showed significant differences (p < 0.05) in valerenic acid content. The highest amount of valerenic acid (1.83 ± 0.06 mg/g dry weight (DW) was found in hairy root cultures exposed to 6-fold calcium for 7 days, which was 7.9 times higher than that of control culture (0.23 ± 0.01 mg/g DW).

Conclusion: The results show that concentration and exposure time to elicitors are important factors that affect the production of valerenic acid.

Keywords: Valeriana officinalis, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Elicitors, Explants, Hairy roots, Valerenic acid, Calcium, Magnesium, rolB gene, Transgenic