Influence of carbon sources on growth and GC-MS based metabolite profiling of Arnica montana L. hairy roots

Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is an economically important herb that contains numerous valuable biologically active compounds accumulated in various parts of the plant. The effects of carbon sources (sucrose, maltose, and glucose) at different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9%) on growth were studied and GC-MS based metabolite profiling of A. montana hairy roots was conducted. The optimal growth and biomass accumulation of transformed roots were observed on an MS nutrient medium containing 3% or 5% sucrose. GC-MS analysis of hairy roots of A. montana showed the presence of 48 compounds in polar fractions and 22 compounds in apolar fractions belonging to different classes of metabolites: flavones, phenolic acids, organic acids, fatty acids, amino acids, sugars, sugar alcohols, hydrocarbons etc. Among the various metabolites identified, only the sugars and sugar alcohols were influenced by the concentration of the respective carbon sources in the nutrient medium.