Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation as an elicitor of flavonoid production in callus cultures of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.)

Issue Date

12-2012

Abstract

Callus cultures of jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) grown in Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with naphthalene-acetic acid (NAA; 20μM) and 6-furfurylaminopurine (kinetin; 20 μM) were exposed to ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation to investigate its potential as an abiotic elicitor of flavonoid production. Prior to irradiation, the levels of the flavonoids, apigenin, vitexin and isovitexin in the leaf and callus extracts were determined through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results showed that vitexin and isovitexin were the dominant flavonoids in the leaves while only apigenin was detected in the calli, suggesting a correlation between the degree of differentiation and biosynthesis of flavonoids in plant tissues. Irradiation of callus cultures for 7 d using two UV-B doses (12.6 and 25.3 kJ m-2) induced synthesis of all three flavonoids (up to 780 μg g-1 dw increase) to levels similar to or higher than those found in whole leaves. The combined levels of the three flavonoids in the cultures treated with the higher UV-B dose were 20-fold higher than the control and were comparable to concentrations found in leaves while a 10-fold increase in combined flavonoid levels was observed in calli irradiated with the lower UV-B dose. Furthermore, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analyses of DNA extracts from the leaves and calli revealed that UV-B irradiation enhanced flavonoid synthesis without altering DNA sequence. These results further support the supposed involvement of UV-B in the transcriptional regulation of the expression of flavonoid biosynthetic genes. Overall, the findings showed that elicitation through UV-B irradiation is an effective strategy to induce flavonoid production in dedifferentiated J. curcas cultures that have lost their capacity to produce the flavonoids normally synthesized in intact organs.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Agricultural Scientist, The (Formerly: The Philippine Agriculturist)

ISSN

0031-7454

Volume

95

Issue

4

Page

335-343

Document Type

Article

College

College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS)

Frequency

quarterly

Physical Description

illustrations; graphs; tables; references

Language

English

Subject

callus culture, dedifferentiation, elicitor, flavonoid, Jatropha curcas, ultraviolet-B radiation

En – AGROVOC descriptors

JATROPHA CURCAS; CALLUS CULTURE; ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION; FLAVONOIDS; GENETIC TRANSFORMATION

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS