Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is an economically important herb that contains numerous valuable biologically active compounds accumulated in various parts of the plant. The effects of carbon sources (sucrose, maltose, and glucose) at different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9%) on growth were studied and GC-MS based metabolite profiling of A. montana hairy roots was conducted. | Turkish Journal of Biology Turk J Biol (2015) 39: 469-478 © TÜBİTAK doi: Research Article Influence of carbon sources on growth and GC-MS based metabolite profiling of Arnica montana L. hairy roots 1, 1 2 2 Maria PETROVA *, Ely ZAYOVA , Ivayla DINCHEVA , Ilian BADJAKOV , Mariana VLAHOVA 1 Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria 2 AgroBioInstitute, Sofia, Bulgaria Received: Accepted/Published Online: 2 Printed: Abstract: Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is an economically important herb that contains numerous valuable biologically active compounds accumulated in various parts of the plant. The effects of carbon sources (sucrose, maltose, and glucose) at different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9%) on growth were studied and GC-MS based metabolite profiling of A. montana hairy roots was conducted. The optimal growth and biomass accumulation of transformed roots were observed on an MS nutrient medium containing 3% or 5% sucrose. GC-MS analysis of hairy roots of A. montana showed the presence of 48 compounds in polar fractions and 22 compounds in apolar fractions belonging to different classes of metabolites: flavones, phenolic acids, organic acids, fatty acids, amino acids, sugars, sugar alcohols, hydrocarbons etc. Among the various metabolites identified, only the sugars and sugar alcohols were influenced by the concentration of the respective carbon sources in the nutrient medium. Key words: Arnica, transformed roots, carbon sources, GC-MS analysis 1. Introduction The perennial herb Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is one of the most important medicinal species worldwide. The plant is used for treatment of hematomas, contusions, sprains, rheumatic disease, and superficial inflammations of the skin (Willuhn, 1998). Its pharmacological value is due to the presence of sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, essential .
