Production of industrially important cosmaceutical and pharmaceutical derivatives of betuligenol by Atropa belladonna hairy root mediated biotransformation

A selected hairy root clone of Atropa belladonna biotransformed 4-(p-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-ol or betuligenol into an oxidized product, i.e., 4-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone or raspberry ketone, and a glucosylated product, i.e. 4-(p-hydroxyphenyl) but-2-yl-β-d-glucopyranoside or betuloside respectively. The biotransformed products were distinguished by various spectroscopic techniques and were quantified through HPLC. Almost two fold higher amounts of the biotransformed products could be obtained in the media than in the root mass. Time course study revealed that the maximum conversion level of betuligenol into raspberry ketone was 7.75% and betuligenol into betuloside was 8.65% on the 5th and 10th day of incubation respectively. The potential application of hairy root of A. belladonna in generating raspberry ketone and betuloside opens up new avenues for production of nutraceutical/food ingredient and natural analgesic/anti-inflammatory compounds.

► Atropa belladonna HR clone induced regio-specific oxidation & glucosylation of betuligenol (1).
► Raspberry ketone (2) as oxidized & betuloside (3) as glucosylated products formed.
► Nearly two fold higher amounts of biotransformed products were detected in media than in HR tissue.
► First report on HR mediated oxidation/glucosylation at C-2 position of the aliphatic chain of (1).