Vinblastine synthesis under the influence of CaCl2 elicitation in embryogenic cell suspension culture of Catharanthus roseus

Elicitation is an important strategy to get better productivity of secondary products and reducing production costs. In this study CaCl2 was used as an elicitor for the enhancement of Vinblastine synthesis in Catharanthus roseus embryogenic cell suspension culture. Various concentrations (0 mM-100 mM)of CaCl2 were added in Murashige and Skoog (MS)medium. Cell growth attributes were measured in terms of growth efficiency and packed cell volume (PCV). The growth efficiency of the callus was decreased as the numbers of days were increased whereas settled cell and PCV percent increased with time. With increase in CaCl2 concentration, the medium pH was decreased linearly in all days of treatments and minimum pH was recorded after 30 days of culture. There was a progressive increase in protein as well as free proline content with increasing concentration of CaCl2 whereas the amino acid content was found to decrease. The sugar content increased and showed a linear trend up to 75 mM CaCl2 thereafter it declined. As compare to control, an increase of 1 percent to 17.99 percent of vinblastine was recorded after 30 days of culture. This clearly indicates the importance of this work as a lead for vinblastine synthesis in liquid culture.