Effect of methyl jasmonate and p-coumaric acid on anthocyanin composition in a sweet potato cell suspension culture

Methyljasmonate and p-coumaric acid added individually to the basal Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium induced significant changes in the composition of anthocyanin pigments accumulated in a sweet potato PL cell suspension culture. Methyljasmonate added in concentration of 4.5-44.5 muM promoted biosynthesis of anthocyanins with more complicated molecular structures, among them di-acylated compounds, while the total amount of accumulated pigments remained unchanged. Feeding the precursor p-coumaric acid was superior to the effect of methyl jasmonate. The addition of 2 mM p-coumaric acid resulted in a complete conversion of non-acylated anthocyanins cyanidin 3-sophoroside-5-glucoside (YGM-0a) and peonidin 3-sophoroside-5-glucoside (YGM-0b) into their mono- and di-acylated derivatives: YGM-0f', -7a and -7e. These changes were concomitant with an approximately 2-fold increase of the total amount of accumulated pigments. Possible pathways of acylation and methylation in this system are discussed. It is suggested that acylation of YGM-0a and YGM-0b in the PL suspension culture has been limited by the insufficient amount of endogenous p-coumaric acid. Crown Copyright (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.