Effect of abiotic and biotic elicitors on vincristine accumulation in endosperm derived in vitro cultures in Catharanthus roseous (L.) G. Don

Abstract Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don (Apocynaceae) is a well-studied herb renowned for its in vitro culture as a source of the anti-cancer alkaloid, vincristine. However, despite the recognized advantages of triploid cells over diploid cells in terms of productivity, the triploid endosperm tissue of this important medicinal plant has not been utilized for in vitro culture initiation. In this investigation, zygotic embryos and endosperm tissues were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various combinations of auxins and cytokinins. The medium containing 2.50 µM 6-Benzyladenine (BA) and 1.25 µM 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) proved to be the most effective for callus and cell culture formation. Ploidy analysis using ploidy analyzer confirmed that the endosperm-derived callus exhibited mixoploid, while the embryo-derived callus remained diploid. Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LC–MS) analysis of callus and cell cultures grown on MS media with different combinations of auxins, cytokinins, elicitors, and precursors (both biotic and abiotic) revealed the accumulation of vincristine. Notably, treatment with a biotic elicitor derived from Aspergillus niger (300 mg/l) demonstrated superior efficacy in promoting the maximum accumulation of vincristine in endosperm-derived callus and cell biomass. These findings hold promise for the sustainable production of the anti-cancer alkaloid vincristine from endosperm-derived callus and cell cultures of Catharanthus roseus.