Production of Polysaccharidesby Silene vulgaris Callus Culture Depending on Carbohydrates of the Medium

E. A. Gunter and Yu. S. Ovodov^*

Institute of Physiology, Komi Science Center, The Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Pervomaiskaya 50, Syktyvkar 167982, Russia; fax: (8212) 241-001; E-mail: ovoys@physiol.komisc.ru; elena@physiol.komisc.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received August 8, 2002

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Sources of carbohydrate nutrition such as sucrose, glucose, and galactose, with the exception of arabinose, were shown to influence positively callus growth and polysaccharide (pectin silenan and acidic arabinogalactan) biosynthesis. Galactose was found to cause a stimulatory effect on yield and productivity of arabinogalactan. Low concentrations of sucrose failed to support the cell growth and polysaccharide biosynthesis. Increasing sucrose concentrations led to biomass accumulation but failed to enhance efficiency of the substrate utilization. The optimal medium for the campion cell culture growth was found to be one containing 30 g/liter of sucrose or a mixture of sucrose with glucose (in 15 g/liter). Increasing sucrose concentrations in the medium from 30 to 100 g/liter failed to significantly influence the polysaccharide yields while the polysaccharide productivity per liter of the medium grew due to promotion of culture productivity in biomass. Variations of the carbon sources in the nutrient media were shown to influence insignificantly the biochemical characteristics of arabinogalactan and silenan while an increase in the sucrose concentration to 50-100 g/liter led to a diminution of the galacturonic acid content in silenan and to changes in contents of the neutral monosaccharide residues in silenan and arabinogalactan.

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KEY WORDS: Silene vulgaris (M.) G., cell culture, callus, pectin, silenan, arabinogalactan, plant polysaccharides, carbohydrates

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