Abstract Synergistic effects of medium strategies and sucrose levels with nitrogenous compounds, phosphate and myo inositol on Morinda elliptica cell cultures

M.A. Abdullah¹, M. Marziah², M.N. Zakaria¹, A.M. Ali¹, N.H. Lajis³ and A.B. Ariff^1*

¹Department of Biotechnology, ²Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, ³Department of Chemistry,
Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

(Received 15 October 1998 / Accepted 10 May 1999)

Abstract.
Synergistic effects of medium strategies and sucrose levels with nitrogenous compounds, phosphate and myo inositol on Morinda elliptica cell suspension cultures were studied. Three types of medium strategies were tested maintenance (M), growth (G) and production (P) media. In M medium, incorporation of NO3 between 30 mM and 67.7 mM, was vital for optimum growth and anthraquinone (AQ) production. NO3 level upto 95.9 mM did not affect cell growth though AQ may be slightly reduced. At NO3 level of 77.1 mM, 8% (w/v) sucrose in G medium produced optimum cell growth and AQ content but cell growth was reduced whilst AQ content unaffected in P medium. At 10% (w/v) sucrose in both G and P media, both cell growth and AQ content were reduced. Phosphate was more a growth limiting nutrient than an AQ limiting nutrient. Absence of phosphate retarded cell growth in M medium but no significant difference on cell growth and AQ yield was observed with 5 fold increase in phosphate in M medium; at 8% (w/v) and 10% (w/v) sucrose in G medium; and at 8% (w/v) sucrose in P medium. At 10%(w/v) sucrose in P medium, the AQ yield was reduced by almost 50% (w/v). Nitrogen and phosphate toxicity was not only a function of both individual and collective level of ammonium, nitrate and phosphate, but also the level of sucrose and medium strategies. myo inositol was not an absolute requirement in M. elliptica cell suspension culture.

Keywords: Anthraquiriones, Morinda elliptica, nitrogen, phosphate, myo inosito