Abstract

Centella asiatica is an important medicinal plant which contains various phytocompounds. Asiatic acid and asiaticoside are two major compounds which are responsible for its various pharmaceutical activities. The present study analyzes the effect of elicitor i.e. methyl jasmonate on the synthesis of asiaticoside and asiatic acid in shoot, callus and cell suspension cultures of Centella asiatica. A high performance liquid chromatography analysis showed that elicitation with 100 µM concentration of methyl jasmonate enhanced asiaticoside content by 69 fold in callus culture and 39 fold in shoot cultures whereas asiatic acid was enhanced by 1.9 folds in callus culture. Therefore, elicitation with methyl jasmonate is an effective method to increase the biosynthesis of asiaticoside and asiatic acid in plant cell cultures of Centella asiatica.

Key words: Asiaticoside; asiatic acid; Centella asiatica; cell suspension culture; methyl jasmonate; shoot cultures