Effects of zinc and cadmium ions on cell growth and production of coumarins in cell suspension cultures of Angelica archangelica L.

The plant cell may respond to the excess of heavy metals in its environment by various mechanisms, including enhanced biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. In this study, zinc (0 to 1500 μM) and cadmium ions (0 to 100 μM) were tested as potential elicitors of the production of coumarins in angelica cell suspension cultures. In addition, the toxicity of both metals was assessed by evaluating their effect on cell growth (characterized by fresh and dry biomass at the end of a two-week subculture). It has been found that fresh biomass was not influenced up to zinc concentrations of 150 and 300 μM in the dark-grown and light-grown cultures, resp. Then it declined with an increasing zinc level. Zinc at 1500 μM diminished it by 54% and 24% in the dark-grown and light-grown cultures, resp. Dry biomass was influenced in a similar way. Zinc at 1500 μM reduced dry cell weight by 30% and 20% in cultures in the dark and in the light, resp. Cadmium ions did not affect fresh and dry weights of cells up to concentrations of 10 μM and 50 μM in cultures in the dark and in the light, resp. Toxic concentrations of cadmium are by an order of magnitude lower than those of zinc. Cadmium at 50 μM reduced fresh and dry cell weights by 66% and 59%, resp., in the dark-grown cultures. Cadmium at 100 μM caused a decrease in fresh and dry biomass by 40% and 44%, resp., in the light-grown cultures. Neither zinc nor cadmium improved production of coumarins.

Keywords: Angelica archangelica L.; cell suspension cultures; growth; coumarins; zinc; cadmium; elicitation; light conditions; sequential injection analysis

Grants and funding:

This work was financially supported by the grant of Charles University in Prague SVV 265 004.