The technology based on cell or tissue cultures is very useful for the production of bioactive compounds. These molecules, depending on the class they belong to, can be used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. In particular, the developed technology is addressed to the optimization of bioactive compounds in plant cell/tissue cultures having the biosynthetic pathway of the compound of interest. Notably, the in vitro tissues developed are characterized by a high morphological and productive stability and represent a suitable material to grow in bioreactors. Moreover, these tissues can be treated with molecules that further induce the biosynthetic pathway of interest for obtaining larger amount of the compounds of interest.
The innovative aspects of the developed technology are the following:
a) the obtained flax tissue cultures able to produce lignans such as Justicidin B with pharmacological properties not yet fully explored and proven in vivo. The innovation of this established technology is the obtainment of adventitious and hairy-roots from Linum lewisii, to date very little explored as a technological platform;
b) The Yield of justicidin B obtained by this technique is the highest recorded up to now.
c) Setting up and construction of an appropriate bioreactor able to support the growth of the plant tissues.
d) Set up of an elicitation technique capable of doubling the production of Justicidin B with respect to the normal growth condition.