Production of bacoside A, a memory enhancer from hairy root cultures of Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst

• Bacoside A produced from Bacopa monnieri is a brain tonic with nootropic effect.
• Production of bacoside A′ was performed using hairy roots of B. monnieri.
• Enhancement of bacoside A production in B. megaterium was done by response surface methodology.
• Optimization of parameters increased biomass twofold and bacoside A′ from 10.0 to 16.14 mg g−1 DW.

Bacosides, well-known brain tonic and restorative, are the active principles extracted from Bacopa monnieri. In the present investigation, bacoside A production by the hairy roots of B. monnieri was enhanced by optimizing the media components. Glucose as carbon source and potassium nitrate as nitrogen source yielded higher biomass and bacoside A production. Initially, medium components were selected using Plackett–Burman (PB) design and subsequently optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Glucose, KNO3, KH2PO4 and MgSO4·7H2O at a concentration of 41.72 g l−1, 6.12 g l−1, 0.33 g l−1 and 0.52 g l−1, respectively, yielded maximum biomass and bacoside A production. Twofold increased in biomass (from 6.8 g l−1 FW to 12.99 g l−1 FW) and bacoside A production from 10.02 to 16.14 mg g−1 DW was achieved after optimization of conditions and medium components. Present study results suggested the success of RSM in enhancing the production of bacoside A and biomass accumulation of hairy root culture of B. monnieri.