Influence of Medium Composition on the Formation of Secondary Compounds in Cell Suspension Cultures of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don

Cell suspension cultures of Catharanthus roseus have been subjected to various media condi­tions in order to stimulate the formation of indole alkaloids. High ajmalicine contents (up to 0.5 mg/g cell fresh weight) were achieved by transferring 2-week-old cell suspensions to a 10-fold volume of a 8% sucrose solution. The alkaloid accumulation started two days after the transfer and reached a plateau after ten days. Furthermore an enhanced level of phenolic compounds was found, whereas growth of the culture was low. The accumulation of both, alkaloids and poly­phenols was stimulated by high concentrations of sucrose and low concentrations of nitrogen con­taining salts and phosphate. When these minerals were added to the sucrose solution in con­centrations commonly used for cell culture media, the accumulation of alkaloids and phenolic compounds was largely suppressed.