The effect of plant growth regulators on biomass formation and lobeline production of Lobelia inflata L. hairy root cultures

Abstract

We have studied the biomass and alkaloid production of geneticallytransformed hairy root cultures of Lobelia inflata L. Thehairy root clone 8009/h7 transformed with Agrobacteriumrhizogenes strain R 1601 was cultivated on B5 solid media containingdifferent amounts of the growth regulators KIN, IAA or NAA. KIN significantlydecreased growth and lobeline production and strongly inhibited biomassformation at 5 mg/l. IAA and NAA had characteristic morphologicaleffects on growth, in increasing the number of the lateral roots. However theyrestricted linear growth. Addition of IAA or NAA into the culture mediumincreased the biomass formation and lobeline production of hairy roots. It wasfound that the greatest amount of lobeline was obtained at the 0.2mg/l IAA concentration, similar to the effect of NAA.