Isoflavonoid production in a hairy roots culture of Pueraria candollei

A hairy roots culture of Pueraria candollei was established using Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC15834 and grown in half-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. The highest production of total isoflavonoids was found to be (36.48 ± 4.09) mg/g dry wt [(3.39 ± 0.20) mg/g dry wt puerarin, (29.91 ± 3.74) mg/g dry wt daidzin, (1.65 ± 0.09) mg/g dry wt genistin, (0.76 ± 0.03) mg/g dry wt daidzein, and (0.76 ± 0.03) mg/g dry wt genistein, respectively]. The total isoflavonoid content in hairy roots of P. candollei was 5.18-fold higher than that of the native tuber. Effects of sucrose content and medium type on growth and isoflavonoid production were investigated. 5% (w/v) Sucrose was an optimum content for the growth and isoflavonoid accumulation in P. candollei hairy roots. Half-strength MS medium had the highest effect for biomass production whereas woody plant medium had mostly stimulated isoflavonoid content in hairy roots.