Adventitious and Hairy Root Cultures of Salvia apiana as a Source of Rosmarinic Acid.

For the first time, adventitious and hairy root cultures of Salvia apiana (white sage) have been established and analyzed for the content of secondary metabolites. Non-transformed roots derived from sterile seedlings were maintained on a full-strength IBA-supplemented SH medium. Adventitious roots yielded up to 44.5 mg/g and 18.7 mg/g DW rosmarinic acid when grown in shake flasks and immersion-column bioreactors, respectively. Transformed root cultures were established from S. apiana microshoots, infected with A4 and LBA9402 strains of Rhizobium rhizogenes. The obtained hairy root cultures (three and two clonal lines established using A4 and LBA9402 strains, respectively) were maintained in the PGR-free, full-strength SH medium. The most productive root line, established using A4 strain, accumulated rosmarinic acid at 38.1 and 39.6 mg/g DW when grown in shake flasks and spray bioreactors, respectively. Neither adventitious nor transformed roots of S. apiana produced diterpenoids, identified in roots of the field-grown plants, and instead proved to be a selective source of rosmarinic acid.