19-08-2014, 11:29 AM
Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius L. is an annual herbaceous plant of Compositae family. In the present studies an attempt was made to employ plant tissue culture techniques to grow Carthamus tinctorius L. cells to produce carthamin pigment as a secondary metabolite of plant.
Safflower, Carthamus tinctorius L. is an annual herbaceous plant of Compositae family. In the present studies an attempt was made to employ plant tissue culture techniques to grow Carthamus tinctorius L. cells to produce carthamin pigment as a secondary metabolite of plant. The growth of sterile explants from immature seeds was screened for different media and results showed that Basal MS medium gave maximum initiation and growth of seedling. Optimization of plant growth regulators was carried for growth of callus and secondary metabolite production. Response Surface Methodology was employed for optimizing the major nutrients (sucrose, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, calcium nitrate and magnesium heptahydrate) in the suspension culture based on two responses (i.e. the production of red and yellow pigments). Optimisation results show that three factors (Magnesium sulfate, sucrose and calcium nitrate) showed significant effect on the pigment production. Growth kinetics of carthamus cells in suspension culture was carried out to understand the relationship between growth and pigment formation. The pigment production was found very low (0.1-0.15%) during log phase of the growth while it increased (0.3-0.35 %) in the stationary phase of the growth. Reactor studies of Carthamus tinctorius L. cell suspension is being conducted in 1.5L Airlift fermentor.