The goal of this work was to study the stimulating effects of mannan and pectin on the biosynthesis of hypericins in in vitro seedlings of Hypericum adenotrichum Spach. Seedlings of H. adenotrichum were grown on a modified MS medium containing mannan (10, 50, and 100 mg/L) or pectin (10, 50, and 100 mg/L) for 15 and 30 days. | Turkish Journal of Botany Turk J Bot (2013) 37: 153-159 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Stimulation of the production of hypericins in in vitro seedlings of Hypericum adenotrichum by some biotic elicitors 1 1, 2 Ömer YAMANER , Bengi ERDAĞ *, Cengiz GÖKBULUT Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Adnan Menderes University, 09010 Aydın, Turkey 2 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Adnan Menderes University, Işıklı Köyü, 09100 Aydın, Turkey 1 Received: Accepted: Published Online: Printed: Abstract: The goal of this work was to study the stimulating effects of mannan and pectin on the biosynthesis of hypericins in in vitro seedlings of Hypericum adenotrichum Spach. Seedlings of H. adenotrichum were grown on a modified MS medium containing mannan (10, 50, and 100 mg/L) or pectin (10, 50, and 100 mg/L) for 15 and 30 days. Seedlings of H. adenotrichum were extracted with methanol. The methanol extracts of the seedlings were analysed by HPLC to investigate the changes in hypericin and pseudohypericin levels. The best results were obtained by exposure to 50 mg/L mannan or pectin for 15 days. Mannan stimulated pseudohypericin production up to and hypericin production up to . Pectin stimulated pseudohypericin production up to and hypericin production up to . The increases in hypericins in response to mannan and pectin demonstrate that these elicitors can be evaluated for production of secondary metabolites in Hypericum species. Key words: Hypericum adenotrichum, elicitor, hypericins, mannan, pectin, in vitro 1. Introduction The genus Hypericum L. belongs to the family Guttiferae and includes about 450 species (Robson, 2003). Hypericum species have been used as medicinal plants for centuries and have an important place among medicinal plants. The economic importance of the genus .
