Mentha piperita L. Micropropagation and the Potential Influence of Plant Growth Regulators on Volatile Organic Compound Composition.

Jacek Łyczko,Kornelia Kolasa,Renata Galek,Krystian Piotrowski,Antoni Szumny

doi:10.3390/molecules25112652

Abstract

Due to the industrial use of Mentha piperita L. (peppermint), it is important to develop an optimal method to obtain standardized plant material with specific quality parameters. In vitro cultures may allow the production of desirable odor-active compounds (OACs) and improve their share in the plant aroma profile. There are two types of explants that are commonly used, apical meristems and nodal segments. In this study, the best overall effects were shown to be produced by the combination of MS medium with the addition of 0.5 mg·dm−3 indolyl-3-butyric acid. In this case, a very high degree of rooting was found (97% for apical meristems, 100% for nodal meristems), lateral shoots were induced in 83% of both types of explant, and the content of OACs in the plant aroma profile increased significantly, especially menthofurolactone and cis-carvone oxide, responsible in this case for a characteristic mint-like aroma. The comparison of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) obtained from plants of different origin by GC-MS showed no significant differences in their qualitative composition. Moreover, in-vitro-cultivated peppermint on a medium containing 0.5 mg·dm−3 2-isopentinloadenine and 0.1 mg·dm−3 indolyl-3-acetic acid showed significant amounts of menthofurolactone in its VOC composition.

Highlights

Biotechnology tools such as in vitro cultures are useful for obtaining unified plant material with a guaranteed aroma quality, since the physical and chemical cultivation conditions, including temperature, photoperiod basal medium, the addition of plant growth regulators, and other factors such as CO2, may be strictly controlled [1,2,3]
No source of variance related to the medium, type of explant, or the interaction between them was statistically significant for the average number of new shoots and the length of the largest lateral new shoots
It should be noted that while the 3000 μmol·mol−1 CO2 level resulted in the highest growth and morphogenesis responses from mint plantlets in soil, it did not appreciably improve the levels of secondary metabolites. These results indicate that ultra-high CO2 levels may enhance the production of essential oil (EO) and, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) production in plants grown in vitro, meaning that they would be present at higher levels than in soil grown crops

Summary

Introduction

Biotechnology tools such as in vitro cultures are useful for obtaining unified plant material with a guaranteed aroma quality, since the physical and chemical cultivation conditions, including temperature, photoperiod basal medium, the addition of plant growth regulators, and other factors such as CO2 , may be strictly controlled [1,2,3]. In vitro cultures allow for the cultivation of plants that do not contain undesirable chemical compounds [4]. This is especially important currently, when the use of chemical compounds naturally occurring in plants is becoming increasingly appreciated. The usable raw material of peppermint consists of herbs and leaves (fresh or dried), oil, or herb extract. The plant may contain about 300 different volatile constituents, mainly esters, ketones, and terpene oxides [10], but the most

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