Significant improvement of taxane production in suspension cultures of Taxus chinensis by combining elicitation with sucrose feed

The effects of elicitation and its combination with sucrose feed on the cell growth and accumulation of taxane diterpene - taxuyunnanine C (Tc) in suspension cultures of Taxus chinensis were investigated in shake flasks. The Tc accumulation was enhanced by elicitation of methyl jasmonate (MJA) or dihydro-methyl jasmonate (HMJA), and addition of 100 ELM MJA or HMJA at day 7 could increase the Tc content to 21.9 +/- 0.8 and 15.8 +/- 1.8 mg (g DW)(-1), respectively, without any inhibitory effects on the cell growth. The activity of a key enzyme - taxadiene synthase was greatly increased after elicitation. The Tc production was further enhanced by combining elicitation with sucrose feed, and a very high production titer of 527 +/- 17 mg l(-1) was achieved on day 15 when elicitation (using 100 muM MJA) was combined with sucrose feed (20 g l(-1)) on day 7. The taxane production titer obtained in this work was the highest as ever reported. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.