Pilot-scale culture of Hypericum perforatum L. adventitious roots in airlift bioreactors for the production of bioactive compounds.

Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's Wort) is an important medicinal plant which is widely used in the treatment for depression and irritable bowel syndrome. It is also used as a dietary supplement. Major bioactive phytochemicals of H. perforatum are phenolics and flavonoids. Quality of these phytochemicals is dramatically influenced by environmental and biological factors in the field grown plants. As an alternative, we have developed adventitious root cultures in large-scale bioreactors for the production of useful phytochemicals. Adventitious roots of H. perforatum were cultured in 500 l pilot-scale airlift bioreactors using half-strength Murashige and Skoog medium with an ammonium and nitrate ratio of 5:25 mM and supplemented with 1.0 mg l(-1) indole butyric acid, 0.1 mg l(-1) kinetin, and 3 % sucrose for the production of bioactive phenolics and flavonoids. Then 4.6 and 6.3 kg dry biomass were realized in the 500 l each of drum-type and balloon-type bioreactors, respectively. Accumulation of 66.9 mg g(-1) DW of total phenolics, 48.6 mg g(-1) DW of total flavonoids, 1.3 mg g(-1) DW of chlorogenic acid, 0.01 mg g(-1) DW of hyperin, 0.04 mg g(-1) DW of hypericin, and 0.01 mg g(-1) DW of quercetin could be achieved with adventitious roots cultured in 500 l balloon-type airlift bioreactors. Our findings demonstrate the possibilities of using H. perforatum adventitious root cultures for the production of useful phytochemicals to meet the demand of pharmaceutical and food industry.