Production of d-Limonene in Chitosan Elicited Citrus Japonica Suspension Cultures

Abstract

Callus and cell suspension cultures of Citrus japonica Thunb. were established from seedlings. Chitosan was used as an elicitor for improving d-limonene content in cell suspension cultures. The effect of chitosan concentrations on cell growth and d-limonene content was studied. The optimum concentration of chitosan for d-limonene production by C. japonica Thunb. was 200 mg/L which, yielded 42.5 mg/L d-limonene at 12 days. Moreover, at 15 days, α-ter- pineol, a metabolite of d-limonene also reached the maximum content at 29.2 mg/L. At 21 days, both d-limonene and α-terpineol contents were 14.3 and 18.9 mg/L, respectively, which were increased 17 and 15 fold, respectively, higher than individual content without elicitation.

Key Word Index:

• Citrus japonica
• Rutaceae
• chitosan
• elicitation
• d-limonene
• α-terpineol