Department of Botany, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram 695 581, Kerala, India.
* For correspondence author.
1Present address: KMC International Center, Manipal University, Manipal 576 104, India..
Leaf derived callus cultures of Sida cordifolia Linn. belonging to the family Malvaceae accumulated appreciable amounts of ephedrine. Analysis of ephedrine was carried out by Thin Layer Chromatography and RP-HPLC and its identity was further confirmed by UV-Vis Spectrophotometry. Active synthesis of ephedrine started after 60 days of callus growth. 2,4 Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) strongly inhibited the bioproductin of ephedrine. Maximum ephedrine accumulation was observed in callus grown in Murashige and Skoogs (MS) medium containing 1 mg/l Napthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 5 mg/l Kinetin (Kin) (462 μg/g dry wt.) while maximum cell growth was observed in presence of 1 mg/l NAA and 5 mg/l Benzyl Adenine (BA) (889 mg dry wt). A time course study of growth and ephedrine accumulation indicated that ephedrine is actively accumulated in the callus cultures only after 90 days of growth which continued to increase until the end of 150 day, after which there was a regression.
callus culture, ephedrine, in vitro culture, Sida cordifolia
