Methyl jasmonate and salicylic acid elicitation increase content and yield of chlorogenic acid and its derivatives in Gardenia jasminoides cell suspension cultures

Abstract

Chlorogenic acid and its derivatives (CADs) are the bioactive components in Gardenia jasminoides Ellis (GJE) fruits but occur at a low level. In the current paper, four types of calluses were induced from GJE leaf explants, and light yellow-green calluses with a fine appearance and texture were selected for the development of a cell suspension culture to produce CADs. Additionally, cultured cells were elicited by salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) to increase the CADs yield. Seven CADs compounds were identified via HPLC-TOF-MS/MS, namely, 3-caffeoylquinic acid, 4-caffeoylquinic acid, 5-caffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoyl-4-o-(3-hydroxyl-3-methyl)-glutaroylquinic acid, and malonyl-4,5-o-dicaffeoylquinic acid. This is the first identification of malonyl-4,5-o-dicaffeoylquinic acid from GJE. Both SA and MeJA significantly promoted the CADs yield, but MeJA was more effective than SA. Cells elicited by 200 µM MeJA showed the maximum total CADs content and yield, up to 20.98 ± 1.1 mg g−1 and 232.32 ± 9.1 mg L−1, which were 19.51 times and 14.14 times those of the control, respectively. Furthermore, the total CADs extracted from cells elicited by 200 µM MeJA displayed a much higher antioxidant capacity than that of natural GJE fruits. Our research suggested that a GJE cell culture combined with MeJA elicitation has a promising application in natural CADs production.