Isoflavone Augmentation in Soybean Cell Cultures Is Optimized Using Response Surface Methodology

Glycine max contains potential therapeutic isoflavones, and its productivity in plants is considerably influenced worldwide by several biotic and abiotic factors. Optimization of soybean cell suspension cultures (Indian variety, JS 335) to maximize the cell growth and isoflavone production in the present study was performed using response surface methodology (RSM) with three independent variables of plant growth regulators, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 1-naphthalene acetic acid (α-NAA), and kinetin (Kn). The maximum biomass achieved was 70.62 g/L dry weight (dw) using the optimized medium of 2.10 mg/L 2,4-D, 5.52 mg/L α-NAA, and 0.35 mg/L Kn supplemented in the Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium. The total isoflavone content of 38.59 mg/g of dw was obtained in the medium with optimized conditions of 1.33 mg/L 2,4-D, 1.76 mg/L α-NAA, and 0.15 mg/L Kn. In comparison to field-grown soybean seeds, the cell suspension cultures profoundly augmented isoflavone concentrations. The optimized conditions for both biomass and total isoflavone content were evaluated by superimposing the contour plots. The results suggested that the optimized medium of cell suspension cultures possibly be used for scale-up studies in bioreactors to offer a high content of bioactive isoflavones.