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

For the first time, adventitious and hairy root cultures of <i>Salvia apiana</i> (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 <i>S. apiana</i> microshoots, infected with A4 and LBA9402 strains of <i>Rhizobium rhizogenes</i>. 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 <i>S. apiana</i> produced diterpenoids, identified in roots of the field-grown plants, and instead proved to be a selective source of rosmarinic acid.