Hemant Sood
Jaypee University of Information Technology, India
Title: In vitro production of hypericin rich shoots of Hypericum perforatum
Biography
Biography: Hemant Sood
Abstract
Hypericum perforatum is a valuable medicinal herb possessing anti-depressant, anti-microbial, anti-viral and cytotoxic properties. Hypericin being one of the major compounds of this plant is used as a sensitizer in the photodynamic cancer therapy. In the current study, rapid method for micropropagation and in vitro production of hypericin was developed using shoot apices of H. perforatum. An average of 36.3 number of shoots were induced from single explants within 5-6 days of culturing on MS medium supplemented with KN (3 mg/L)+sucrose 3% (w/v)+agar-agar 0.9% (w/v). Highest hypericin content of 0.119 µg per mg was observed in shoots grown on MS medium containing sucrose (3%), IBA (3 mg/l), KN (1 mg/l) and agar (0.9%) at 25±2o C under light conditions with incubation for two months in an optimized culture room conditions. This study indicated that in vitro cultured H. perforatum shoots possess biosynthetic potential for hypericin production which can be further exploited for its up scaling under controlled growth conditions.