Elicitation of furanocoumarins in Changium smyrnioides suspension cells

Changium smyrnioides is an endemic medicinal plant in China with considerable capacity for the production of furanocoumarins which can be used in many pharmaceutical applications. Although C. smyrnioides culture systems are regarded as potential resource of furanocoumarins, there is a lack of systematic study on elicitation of these secondary metabolites. Hence a furanocoumarin-oriented cell culture system of C. smyrnioides was established and several promising elicitors and their combinations were tested. The 10th day of the growth curve was chosen as the time point for elicitation. Treatments involving plant signal molecules such as methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA) and CaCl2 triggered furanocoumarin accumulation and suppressed cell growth, while heavy metals (CuSO4 and AgNO3) showed little effects. MeJA at 0.1 mM enhanced the maximum productions of xanthotoxin and bergapten (1.1-fold and 39.6-fold higher than control). 100 mM CaCl2 triggered the highest bergaptol production (77.1-fold higher than control). Combinations of elicitors stressed the growth much more heavily than single elicitors. CaCl2 showed synergistic actions with MeJA and SA. 0.1 mM MeJA combined with 100 mM CaCl2 induced the highest contents of 3 furanocoumarins (Bergaptol, xanthotoxin and bergapten contents were 106.3, 1.6 and 59.9 times higher than those in control). All effective elicitors or combinations aroused oxidative and osmotic stresses in cell cultures and then triggered stress defence. The present study provided a new way for the exploitation of C. smyrnioides.