Kinetics of glucosylated and non-glucosylated aryltetralin lignans in Linum hairy root cultures

Hairy root cultures constitute a good tool for investigating plant secondary metabolism. This work reports the kinetics of aryltetralin lignan biosynthesis during the growth of two hairy root cultures of L. album and L. flavum. [Display omitted] •We study the kinetics and contents of ATLs during the growth of HRCs of two Linum.•From 7 to 21days the ATLs aglycone and glucosylated forms are opposite.•Amount of aglycone methoxypodophyllotoxin or demethoxy methoxypodophyllotoxin and glucosylated forms do not exceed a maximum.•Four molecules, not described in HRCs of Linum flavum and Linum album are found.•Correlation analysis confirms aspects already suggested in cell cultures of Linum. Due to their pronounced cytotoxic activity, a number of aryltetralin lignans (ATLs), such as podophyllotoxin (PTOX), are used as antitumor compounds. The production of such molecules from entire plants or plant cell-tissue-organ cultures is thus of interest to the pharmaceutical industry. Hairy root cultures constitute a good tool not only for phytochemical production but also for investigating plant secondary metabolism. This work reports on the growth and ATL biosynthesis in two hairy root cultures of Linum album Kotschy ex Boiss. and Linum flavum. The kinetics of accumulation of the intermediates of MPTOX biosynthesis and of their glucosylated forms are described over a 21-day period of growth. An accumulation of non-glucosylated forms of the ATLs during the exponential phase of the cultures is followed by an accumulation of the glucosylated forms during the stationary phase. Our results show a strong coordination of the biosynthetic paths derived from deoxypodophyllotoxin via deoxypodophyllotoxin 6-hydroxylase and deoxypodophyllotoxin 7-hydroxylase, and a coordinated glucosylation of podophyllotoxin, methoxypodophyllotoxin, and 5′-demethoxymethoxypodophyllotoxin. Furthermore, our results suggest an important role of β-peltatin-6-glucoside formation in the control of ATL accumulation in Linum hairy root cultures.