Enhancement of taxane production in cell suspension culture of Corylus avellana L. Kal?nkara by elicitation and precursor feeding

Paclitaxel (trademark Taxol (R)) is the most effective chemotherapeutic agent against a wide range of cancers. Hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) cell culture is a promising and inexpensive strategy for producing paclitaxel and related taxanes. This study evaluated the effect of elicitation and taxane precursor feeding for the enhancement of taxanes in a Turkish hazelnut (C. avellana cv. 'Kalinkara') cell suspension culture. Elicitor methyl jasmonate (100, 200 and 300 mu mol L-1) and precursor phenylalanine (3 mu mol, 3 and 6 mmol L-1) were tested in cell suspension cultures. While methyl jasmonate increased the accumulation of taxanes, especially cephalomannine, via induction of the paclitaxel biosynthetic pathway, phenylalanine slightly induced the conversion of 10-deacetylbaccatin III and baccatin III to the end product paclitaxel (0.5349 mu g g(-1)). The results showed that 200 mu mol L-1 methyl jasmonate led to significantly greater induction of taxanes than 100 and 300 mu mol L-1. The amount of cephalomannine (331.6 mu g g(-1)) in cell suspension cultures elicited by 200 mu mol L-1 methyl jasmonate was 8-fold higher than that in the control (41.61 mu g g(-1)), while 10-deacetylbaccatin III (6.174 mu g g(-1)) and baccatin III (3.956 mu g g(-1)) increased almost twice as much as the control. The highest total paclitaxel yield was 5.453 mu g g(-1) in the same culture conditions. In conclusion, cell culture systems of C. avellana L. cv. 'Kalinkara' hazelnut, established for the first time, may become a potential candidate for industrial-level production of cephalomannine and other taxanes with further optimization.