In vitro culture type and elicitation affects secoiridoid and xanthone LC–ESI–TOF MS profile and production in Centaurium erythraea

Centaurium erythraea is medicinal plant with high content of secoiridoid glycosides and xanthones with gastroprotective, hepatoprotective and antioxidative properties. In vitro culture based C. erythraea production would offer sustainable and economically feasible alternative to wild plant harvest provided that comparable productivity could be achieved in artificially propagated plants. To identify most productive C. erythraea system the secoiridoid glycoside and xanthone production and profiles using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry were assessed in in vitro shoot, callus and cell suspension culture-derived material in comparison with wild C. erythraea plants. In vitro shoot culture was the most productive system for C. erythraea secoiridoid production (total yield 86 mg g −1 dw) and cell culture was the most productive system for phenolic compound production (19 mg GAE g −1 dw). The effect of elicitors yeast extract, methyljasmonate (MeJA) and chitosan on secondary metabolite yield indicated that elicitation with MeJA and chitosan significantly decreased yield of sweroside and eustomin, respectively. Significant quantitative differences of major secoiridoids and xanthones indicated that further methodological improvements for increasing yield of major secondary metabolites of in vitro origin need to be explored for in vitro cultivation to become a feasible alternative to C. erythraea wild plant harvest.