Callus somatic embryo production

Biotechnological production of alkaloids is extremely important for many fields, such as the pharmaceutical field. Aslam et al. researched the possibility to incaease the yield of vinblastine production in Catharanthus roseus. According to their results, vinblastine symthesis was clearly temperature dependent in somatic embryo production, embiyogenic callus, and proliferated, matured, and germinated embryos in various in-vitro raised tissues and in somatic embryo-derived plant leaves, shoots, roots, and also whole plants. These results can be applied in bioreactor production. Somatic embryo production in small bioreaetors is nowadays a well established technique in many laboratories (Figure 6.10). 

Many researchers have so far investigated tissue culture of P. somniferum [131, ref. cited therein], and most cultured P. somniferum cells, either as callus or cell suspensions, readily produced sanguinarine and its analogs [130-137], but rarely, if even, produce morphinan alkaloids [138]. Kamo et al. [139], Schuchmann and Wellmann [134], and Yoshikawa and Furuya [140] reported the production of morphinan alkaloids in redifferentiated organs, either shoots or somatic embryos, and their results emphasize the importance of the degree of cell differentiation for the biosynthesis of morphinan alkaloids. 

---