Production of Podophyllotoxin in Juniperus Chinensis Callus Cultures Treated with Oligosaccharides and a Biogenetic Precursor in Honour of Professor G. H. Neil Towers 75th Birthday

Abstract Calli were induced from the leaves of young trees of Juniperus chinensis on Schenk and Hildebrandt medium supplemented with napthalenacetic acid and kinetin and subcultured on the same medium. Podophyllotoxin, a strong anti-tumor agent, was isolated from the extractives of calli and found that calli produced podophyllotoxin. The podophyllotoxin in the calli derived from the leaves constituted 0.005% of dry weight. In contrast, the content of podophyllotoxin in intact plant was 0.0025% of dry weight. The cultures of the calli produced twice as much podophyllotoxin as did those of the intact plant. The production of podophyllotoxin was increased fifteen-fold by addition of chito-oligosaccharides, an elicitor, to the calli. And furthermore, the production increased eleven-fold by addition of phenylalanine, a biogenetic precursor of podophyllotoxin.