Pigment Production in Ajuga Cell Cultures

Within the genus Ajuga, a number of selections have been cultivated in vitro as sources of valuable secondary metabolites (phytochemicals). Phytochemicals such as ferulic acid, and avonoids, including acylated anthocyanin pigments with a higher degree of stability, are harvested from cell cultures of A. reptans, and from purple foliage-cultivars of the related species A. pyramidalis (Callebaut et al., 1997; Madhavi et al., 1996, 1997). Cell and root cultures from A. turkestanica and A. reptans are also sources of adaptogenic phytoecdysteroids, which alleviate fatigue and enhance the nonspecic resistance of a consumer (Cheng et al., 2008; Gorelick-Feldman et al., 2008). In the following laboratory exercises, a few selections from the genus Ajuga are used to demonstrate pigment accumulation in microshoots as well as unorganized (callus and suspension) cultures, and to demonstrate the inuence of experimental factors on the quality of product.