Abstract

Morinda royoc L. (Rubiaceae) root cultures were established for the production of anthraquinones (AQs). Three independent experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of different levels of indole-3-acetic acid (0-22.8 mu M), culture duration (15-75 days) and subculture number (0-4). The following indicators were recorded: root fresh weight per Erlenmeyer and intracellular and extracellular AQ production. The experiments performed in this study allowed an increase of intracellular AQ content up to a maximum of 4.5 mg g(-1)of fresh mass, after 30 days of culture in a medium 5.7 mu M of IAA. In addition, isolation and identification of seven AQs from M. royoc L. roots is described, one of them being reported for the first time for this species. The structures of isolated compounds were determined from (1)H-NMR data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on AQ production from root culture of this plant.