Cell suspension culture as a means to produce polyphenols from date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.)

Date palm accumulates a wide range of secondary metabolites high in nutritional and therapeutic value. In the present study, date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., cv. Shaishi) shoot-tip-induced callus was used to establish cell suspension cultures in Murashige and Skoog (MS) liquid medium containing 1.5 mg L-1 2-isopentenyladenine (2iP) and 10 mg L-1 naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). To study the growth kinetics, cultures were maintained for 12 weeks during which weekly measurements were carried out to determine the biomass accumulation based on packed cell volume (%), fresh weight and dry weight (g). In addition, weekly determination of polyphenols (catechin, caffeic acid, kaempferol, and apigenin) was carried out using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The 11-week-old culture was found highest in the production of biomass (62.9 g L-1 fresh weight and 7.6 g L-1 dry weight) and polyphenols (catechin-155.9 mu g L-1, caffeic acid 162.7 mu g L-1, kaempferol-89.7 mu g L-1, and apigenin-242.7 mu g L-1) from the cell suspension cultures. This is the first report on the production of polyphenols from the cell suspension culture of date palm. This study facilitates further development of large-scale production of polyphenols and the utilization of bioreactors.