Enhanced production of silymarin by Ag⁺ elicitor in cell suspension cultures of Silybum marianum

Abstract

Cell suspension cultures of Silybum marianum L. Gaertn (Compositae) produce silymarin, a mixture of flavonolignans. In an attempt to increase cell growth and silymarin production, we exposed cell cultures to various levels of Ag⁺ (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1, and 2 mM) for different exposure times (12, 24, 48, 72, 144, and 216 h). A dramatic increase in cell growth was observed after 12 h in media supplemented with 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, and 1 mM Ag⁺, and the value in medium treated by 1 mM Ag⁺ after 72 h was 7.21 g, which was about two-fold that of the control (3.32 g). The highest silymarin production reached about 56 μg g⁻¹ DW, 24 h after treatment with Ag⁺ (0.8 mM), which was 30-fold that of the control. Silybin, isosilybin, silychristin, silydianin, and taxifolin were abundant flavonolignans. Ag⁺ in low concentrations is a positive elicitor for cell growth and silymarin production in cell suspension cultures of Silybum marianum.

Keywords::

• Silybum marianum
• cell suspension culture
• elicitation
• Ag⁺

Acknowledgements

We are thankful to Mrs. Roshanak Sepehrifar for her help with HPLC measurements.

Declaration of interest

This work was made possible by financial support from the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII).