Induction of Callus from Flesh of Gardenia jasminoides ELLIS Fruit and Formation of Yellow Pigment in the Callus

Callus cultures were derived from flesh sections of young fruit of Gardenia jasminoides ELLIS on Murashige-Skoog agar medium supplemented with auxin and kinetin in the dark. Colored sections having deep yellow or orange color cells have been maintained for four years (32 generations) by subculturing on Linsmaier-Skoog Gelrite medium containing 1.0 mg/liter of indole-3-acetic acid and 0.1 mg/liter of kinetin in the dark. High-performance liquid chromatography of the yellow pigment showed the presence of crocin as a main component, but at low levels. An excess of gentiobiose, which was tentatively identified by high-performance liquid chromatography, was liberated from the yellow pigment by ammoniacal hydrolysis, but its origin other than crocin remains unknown.