Differentiated Tissue Cultures of Panax ginseng and their Response to Various Carbon Sources

Abstract

Summary Differentiated cultures of Panax ginseng were grown various carbon sources. The effects on growth, ginsenoside accumulation, sugar uptake and enzyme activities were investigated. The responses were dependent on the degree of differentiation. A root culture had an optimal biomass production grown on 30 g1−1 sucrose and a maximal ginsenoside content (5.2–5.7 mg g dry weight− 1) grown on both sucrose and fructose (30 g1−1) . A less differentiated culture, which grew as rigid granules, showed optimal growth on fructose and maltoso (30 gl−1) . The ginsensoide content was less than 0.6 mg g dry weight for all sugars tested. The low content of ginsenosides in the Rb-group could be raised to the concentration obtained in the root culture by successively adding fructose at a rate of 2g1−1 day−1 . A similar stimulatory effect of slow feeding on ginsenoside accumulation was observed for several feeding rates of different sugars. In addition, slow feeding of sugars generally increased the carbon conversion efficiency for both cultures. Enzymes for sucrose and maltose degradation were present in the cell wall. Both cultures hydrolyzed sucrose at equal velocities but their preferential uptake of monosaccharides differed. Glucose and fructose were utilized simultaneously by the root culture. The less differentiated culture used all glucose available until glucose exhaustion before fructose was utilized.