Enhancement of paclitaxel content in induced tetraploid <Emphasis Type="Italic">Corylus avellana</Emphasis> L. cell suspension culture with regulating the expression of genes in paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway

During recent years, hazel cell suspension culture has been significantly considered as a new important source of paclitaxel. Artificial polyploidy alters different characters in plants which results in amplifying the secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. In this paper, the effects of tetraploidy induction on paclitaxel content and gene expression in hazel cell suspension culture were investigated. Various concentrations of colchicine and duration of exposure in solid and liquid media were examined and the ploidy level of cells was determined using flow cytometric analysis. The tetraploid cells were obtained from 0.2% colchicine in the exposure time of 5 and 6 days in solid medium and 0.3% colchicine in the exposure time of 3 and 4 days in liquid medium. Tetraploid cells were employed to prepare cell suspension. 3 µM of phenylalanine and 0.05 mM of vanadyl sulfate were added to both tetraploid and diploid (control) suspension to elicit paclitaxel induction. High performance liquid chromatography analysis demonstrated that the tetraploid cell suspensions produced paclitaxel of about [9.88 µg g^?1 (DW)] 1.7-fold compared with diploid cells [5.74 µg g^?1 (DW)]. The application of phenylalanine and vanadyl sulfate increased the concentration of paclitaxel in both diploid and tetraploid cells. Moreover, qRT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of GGPPS gene was significantly increased and PAL gene expression was altered after tetraploidization.     

Comparative study of ammonium transporters in different organisms by study of a large number of structural protein features via data mining algorithms

Ammonium is an excellent nitrogen source, and ammonium transfer is a fundamental process in most organisms. Membrane transport of ammonium is the key component of nitrogen metabolism mediated by Ammonium Transporter/Methylamine Permease/Rhesus (AMT/MEP/Rh) protein family. Ammonium transporters play different physiological roles in various organisms. Here, we looked at the protein characteristics of ammonium transporters in different organisms to create a link between protein characteristics and the organism. In order to increase the accuracy and precision of the employed models, for the first time, an attempt was made to cover all structural aspects of ammonium transporters in animals, bacteria, fungi, plants, and human by extracting and calculating 874 protein attributes of primary, secondary, and tertiary structures for each ammonium transporter. Then, various weighting and modeling algorithms were applied to determine how structural protein features change between organisms. Considering a large number of protein attributes made it possible to detect key protein characteristics in the structure of ammonium transporters. The results, for the first time, indicated that His-based features including count/frequency of His and frequency/count of Ile-His were the most significant features generating different types of ammonium transporters within organisms. Within different tested models, the C5.0 model was the most efficient and precise model for discrimination of organism type, based on ammonium transporter sequence, with the precision of 94.85%. The determination of protein characteristics of ammonium transporters in different organisms provides a new vista for understanding the evolution of transporters based on the modulation of protein characteristics and facilitates engineering of new transporters. In our point of view, dissecting a large number of structural protein characteristics through data mining algorithms provides a novel functional strategy for studying evolution and phylogeny. This research will serve as a basis for future studies on engineering novel ammonium transporters.     

The novel paclitaxel-producing system: establishment of Corylus avellana L. hairy root culture

Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.), contains a valuable medicinal substance known as Paclitaxel®, which is one of the most effective anticancer drugs. The original plants produce negligible amount of paclitaxel; therefore, tissue culture techniques, especially hairy root culture, could be one of the most practical methods to enhance the amount of paclitaxel. The main goal of this study was to assess the induction of hairy roots in C. avellana. The effects of different strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes including c58c1pRiA₄, K599, and 15834, and six culture media, MS (Murashige and Skoog), half-strength MS, quarter-strength MS, WPM (woody plant media), half-strength WPM, and quarter-strength WPM, were evaluated. The results showed that the maximum amounts of the rooted explants were obtained with c58c1pRiA4 strain in quarter-strength WPM medium. The investigations of explant type (leafstalk, petiole, lamina, and stem) and different propagation media (quarter-strength WPM, half-strength MS, and half-strength SH ((Schenk and Hildebrandt) medium) showed that the leafstalk was the most optimal explant for hairy root induction, and half-strength SH was the best culture medium for growth of the hairy roots in liquid medium. HPLC analyses confirmed the presence of paclitaxel (3.2 μg g⁻¹ (DW)) in hairy root extracts.

     

Paclitaxel production is enhanced in suspension‐cultured hazel (Corylus avellana L.) cells by using a combination of sugar,precursor, and elicitor

Hazel (Corylus avellana L.) has recently been drawing attention as an alternative source of taxol. In the present study, the effects of sugar type, and different concentrations of phenylalanine (Phe) and vanadyl sulfate (V) on the production of taxol in C. avellana were investigated. A factorial experiment was used to optimize the concentrations of the precursor and elicitor. The cells were treated with Phe and V on the fourth day of culture and were harvested every 2 days until the 10th day. By increasing the Phe and V supply, taxol production increased during the culture period and the maximum level of 4.2 μg/g (dry weight) was obtained at day 10 by combining 3 μM of Phe and 0.05 and 0.1 mM of V in media supplemented with fructose (3%). The time course study on taxol production suggested that the appropriate time for using Phe is day 4 of culture, and day 8 for V. Overall, taxol production in C. avellana cell suspension culture was improved by the use of the combined strategy.