Production of lithospermic acid B and rosmarinic acid in hairy root cultures of Salvia miltiorrhiza

Hairy root cultures of Salvia miltiorrhiza were established by infecting sterile plantlets with Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC 15834, and the transformation was proved by direct detection of the inserted T-DNA by the polymerase chain reaction. As determined by HPLC, these hairy root cultures had the ability to produce lithospermic acid B (LAB), rosmarinic acid (RA) and other related phenolic compounds, the water-soluble active components of the plant. The effect of five different basal media, MS, MS-NH4 (MS without ammonium nitrate), B5, WPM and 6,7-V on the root growth and phenolic compound production was studied. It was found that MS-NH4 and 6,7-V media were superior to MS, B5 and WPM media in terms of both root growth and phenolic compound production. The time course of biomass accumulation and phenolic compound formation was also examined in the culture using MS-NH4medium. During cultivation, the content of RA in the roots was stable being approximately 0.48% of dry weight while the content of LAB fluctuated between 0.73% and 1.61% of dry weight, and decreased gradually at the stationary phase of growth. The highest production of LAB and RA was about 64 mg L⁻¹ and 23 mg L⁻¹, respectively. Received 05 November 1998/ Accepted in revised form 06 February 1999