Evaluation and production of bacosides from selected clones of bacopa monnieri l wettst

Abstract

Plant derived natural products represent some of the most important pharmaceuticals available today. However, uncertainty regarding the commercial supply due to the limited availability of many plants in nature has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the use of natural products. Plant cell suspension culture capable of large scale industrial production of such pharmaceutically important molecules is the alternative which promises sustained and assured supply of these important molecules. Hairy roots induced following infection with Agrobacterium rhizogenes are capable of unlimited growth in culture in the absence of plant growth regulator and exhibit higher potential for the production of secondary metabolite production. The objectives of the present study were to select elite clones of B. monnieri, investigate the production of bacoside A using cell suspension cultures and hairy root cultures and finally enhancing the production of bacoside A of cell suspension cultures and hairy root cultures. Fourteen accessions of B. monnieri (BM1- BM14) collected from different locations across India were maintained in nursery at Thapar University. Variation in the content of bacoside A and biomass per plant in fourteen accessions of B. monnieri were studied during the different seasons of the year. Maximum biomass accumulation and bacoside A contents were recorded in the samples processed in summer (June) in all the accessions and minimum biomass and bacoside A content was recorded in winter (December). Amongst accessions, BM1 and BM7 recorded higher biomass accumulation, bacoside A content, Relative growth rate (RGR) and Harvest Index (HI). These parameters showed minimum values in accession BM14. Molecular diversity was then investigated amongst these accessions using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and Inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR). About, 35 % variations were detected in these populations based on combined data of RAPD and ISSR.