Elicitation and In Situ Recovery of Alkaloids in Suspension Cultures of California Poppy

Large and rapid increases in benzophenanthridine alkaloid production occured in suspension cultures of Eschscholtzia californica cells treated with elicitors. Response to different biotic elicitors showed that elicitors prepared from yeast extract, Collectotrichum lindemuthianum and Verticillium dahliae induced alkaloid formation. Highest alkaloid accumulation was obtained with $60\;\mu\textrm{g}$ of yeast extract elicitor per gram of fresh cell weight. In time course performance after elicitor addition, more than 40 hours were required to obtain saturated alkaloid accumulation. Compounded silicone fluid, an ideal accumulation phase for two-phase culture of E. californica, accumulated a large amount of alkaloids produced in a specific manner. Elicitation in two-phase culture clearly increased net alkaloid production as well as their concentrations in the accumulation phase.