Establishment of Suspension Cell Culture from Agrobacterium -transformed Hairy Root Cells of Psammosilene tunicoides , an Endangered and Rare Medicinal Plant of China

Psammosilene tunicoides is an important medicinal plant endemic in China. Its annual yield is severely limited due to slow growth, poor seed germination and excessive collection. To satisfy the growing market demands, it’s necessary to seek alternatives to field cultivation and wild resources of this endangered plant. Using Agrobacterium -transformed hairy roots as initial explants, here, we reported the development of a suspension cell culture system for P. tunicoides . Results showed the Agrobacterium -transformed hairy roots-derived suspension cells are fast in growth and strong in capacity for accumulation of bioactive metabolites. We established that 1/2MS was a suitable medium for culturing the hairy root-derived suspension cells and the optimal combination of phytohormones is 1.5 mg/L 2, 4-D+0.5 mg/L 6-BA+0.25 mg/L NAA+0.1 mg/L KT. Under this condition, the maximal biomass was achieved at the 20 th day of culture with an average growth rate of 0.72 g/L/d; and the intracellular saponine content reached 0.92%, comparable to that of mother hairy roots. Compared with the normal P. tunicoides suspension cells, the hairy roots-derived suspension cells exhibited features of fast growth, short culture period and high concentration of saponines, suggesting that the large scale culture of hairy root-derived cells could be a feasible alternative to the wild resources of P. tunicoides .