Influence of organic supplements on accumulation of β-boswellic acid, acetyl-β-boswellic acid, 11-keto-β-boswellic acid and acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid in callus culture of Boswellia serrata Roxb.

Boswellia serrata Roxb. is a source of several bioactive triterpenoids. Boswellic acid, obtained from oleo-gum resin of the tree, is a major potentially bioactive and medicinal compound. Unrestricted exploitation of its natural resource has led to its listing among the threatened and endangered species. Accumulation of the compound through tissue culture seems a promising option. The present work was conducted to study the effect of sodium pyruvate, l-phenylalanine, glycine, ferulic acid and sucrose on the growth of callus and accumulation of four principal isomers of boswellic acids, viz. beta-boswellic acid (BBA), acetyl-beta-boswellic acid (ABBA), 11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (KBBA) and acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBBA). Callus cultures obtained from embryo explants of Boswellia serrata on Murashige and Skoog medium containing 2.5 mu M 6-benzyladenine, 15 mu M indole acetic acid and 200 mg l(-1) polyvinyl pyrrolidone was supplemented with varying concentrations of the supplements. Sodium pyruvate was most beneficial for the production of AKBBA (77 folds), BBA (27 folds) and ABBA (27 folds) at 10 mg l(-1) and for KBBA (47 folds) at 5 mg l(-1) when compared with control. It was closely followed by sucrose (50 g l(-1)) resulting in KBBA (22-fold), AKBBA (25-fold), BBA (17-fold) and ABBA (10-fold). Glycine, l-phenylalanine and ferulic acid were relatively less effective. It can be concluded that callus cultures manipulated with different concentrations of organic supplements, sodium pyruvate or sucrose, in particular, could be considered as an alternate strategy for direct production of boswellic acid and help in the conservation of the species.