Phenolic compound production by Larrea divaricata Cav. plant cell cultures and effect of precursor feeding

This paper summarizes progress made in using Larrea divaricata Cav. cell cultures for the production of the cytotoxic lignan nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) and the phenylpropanoids p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and sinapyl alcohol. In order to improve the biomass formation and production of these phenolic compounds, four precursors (l-phenylalanine, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, and sinapic acid) were fed to L. divaricata cell cultures. Feeding l-phenylalanine (0.5, 1 and 3 mM) resulted in an increase of NDGA of up to 301.35 ± 1.19, 285.23 ± 28.44 and 190.53 ± 19.50 μg/g DW. The addition of 0.5 μM cinnamic acid enhanced the cell culture growth, but not the NDGA production. When cinnamic acid (1 and 1.5 μM), ferulic acid (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM) and sinapic acid (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM) were added, the media became too toxic for the cells, and the production of NDGA and the phenylpropanoids was suppressed. The content of p-coumaric acid in the medium supplemented with 3 mM l-phenylalanine increased from 47.43 ± 9.01 to 1157.28 ± 47.79 μg/g DW, whereas the sinapyl alcohol content was not affected by any of the precursors tested, presenting similar values to the control medium.