Elicitor-Mediated Enhancement of α-Tocopherol in Cell Suspension Cultures of Nicotiana tabacum

Abstract

Plant cell and tissue culture have been used as the alternative and potential renewable source for the production of valuable phytochemicals. Elicitation offers a reliable in vitro approach to produce or enhance potential phytochemicals. α-tocopherol, which is an isoform of vitamin E, is a potent fat-soluble phytochemical known in nature. The present study focused on enhancing the production of α-tocopherol in the cell suspension culture through an elicitation approach. Suspension cultures of Nicotiana tabacum were established from the leaf disk-derived callus. The cell suspension cultures were treated with different elicitors (methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, and yeast extract) at the lag phase of the cell growth cycle. The effects of elicitors on cell cultures were determined in terms of biomass, and α-tocopherol enhancement was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Different elicitors depending on the concentration exerted different effects on cell growth and α-tocopherol production. Methyl jasmonate treatment showed the significantly highest increase in α-tocopherol on the 6th day of treatment in tobacco suspension cultures. Methyl jasmonate at the concentration of 150 μM enhanced α-tocopherol content to 24-fold over the control. This study clearly shows that the elicitors had the potential to increase the accumulation of α-tocopherol considerably in tobacco cell cultures. The outcomes of this study could be of considerable importance to the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries.