Abstract
The East Indian sandalwood tree, Santalum album, yields one of the costliest heartwoods and precious essential oil. Unsurprisingly, this endangered forest species is severely affected due to unmet global demands, illegal trade and harvesting, overharvesting and an epidemic mycoplasmal spike disease. In vitro micropropagation endeavours have resulted in defined in vitro stages such as somatic embryos that are amenable to mass production in bioreactors. We report on somatic embryo production in a 10-L air-lift-type bioreactor, and compare the growth and biochemical parameters with those of a 2-L air-lift-type bioreactor. For the 10-L bioreactor with biomass (475.7 ± 18 g fresh weight; P < 0.01), concomitantly santalols (5.2 ± 0.15 mg L−1; P < 0.05), phenolics (31 ± 1.6 mg L−1) and arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) (39 ± 3.1 mg L−1; P < 0.05) are produced in 28 days. In addition, we identified and quantified several santalols and phenolics by means of high-performance thin-layer chromatography and reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography analyses, respectively. Results indicate that 10-L-capacity air-lift bioreactors are capable of supporting somatic embryo cultures, while the extracellular medium provides opportunities for production of industrial raw materials such as santalols, phenolics and AGPs. This will prove useful for further optimization and scale-up studies of plant-produced metabolites.
Highlights
The East Indian sandalwood tree, Santalum album, is a woody and tropical forest tree that belongs to the family Santalaceae
The biomass yields were 2.9- to 3-fold higher for the 10-L bioreactor compared with the 2-L bioreactor
We demonstrated the production of phenolics in the extracellular medium (ECM) and confirmed their identities by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) analysis
Summary
The East Indian sandalwood tree, Santalum album, is a woody and tropical forest tree that belongs to the family Santalaceae. The species is globally acclaimed for its very costly heartwood and essential oil obtained from matured individuals. The steam-distilled commercially available essential oil is rich in sesquiterpenoid constituents known as ‘santalols’, i.e. a-santalol and b-santalol together contributing to .90 % (Howes et al 2004). Unmet anthropogenic needs for use in perfumery (fragrance) and as food additives (flavour) have led to the decline of natural populations due to illegal trade and harvesting, and overexploitation. The estimated global annual requirement is 10 000 tons of wood (equivalent to 200 tons of oil), involving a trade of approximately $125 million, of which only 10 % is met from natural resources. Sandalwood finds extensive applications in traditional medicinal
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