Papaver somniferum tissue culture

Biotransformations of morphinan alkaloids have been reported for plant, fungal, and mammalian enzymatic systems with emphasis on rather specific reactions such as the reduction of ketones, N- and O-demethylation, and perox-idative transformations. Furuya et al. used immobilized tissue culture cells of Papaver somniferum to accomplish the selective reduction of codeinone (135) to codeine (136) (207) (Scheme 30). Suspension cultures of a well-established cell line of P. somniferum were grown for one week as a source of cell mass for immobilization in calcium alginate. The cells continued to live in the alginate matrix for 6 months maintaining their biological activity. The reduction of co-... 

Opium poppy Papaver somniferum L., Papaveraceae) is one of the most important medicinal plants and has been cultivated since early centuries. Opium, the dried cytoplasm of a specialized internal secretory system called the laticifer, is normally collected from the unripe capsule. It is the source for the commercial production of medicinally important alkaloids, morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine and papaverine [130, 131], Fig. (61). Morphine, which has strong addictive property, is still the most effective analgesic for the treatment of mortal cancer patients in modem medicine. Codeine is commonly used as an antitussive. However, field cultivation of this plant has been limited since 1953 by the United Nations Opium Conference Protocol to prevent narcotic crimes. Therefore, establishing tissue culture technique for the production of morphinan alkaloids seems to be desirable not only for medicinal purpose but also for decreasing abuse of opiates. 

In addition, the ability of tissue cultures of Papaver somniferum to produce morphine, codeine, and thebaine has been further demonstrated.Of these alkaloids, norsalutaridine, 0-methylpallidine, pallidinine (80 R = H), 0-raethylpallidinine (80 R = Me), 8,14-... 

T. Yoshikawa and T. Furya, Morphinan alkaloid production by tissues differentiated from cultured cells of Papaver somniferum, Flanta Med., 51 (1985) 110-113. 

Because of die economic importance of morphine alkaloids, many attempts to produce them in plant tissue cultures, usually Papaver somniferum or P. bracteatum have been made (Ellis, 1988 Verpoorte et al, 1991). Cultures of both... 

In a discussion of the nonspecific character of nicotine demethylation, it is appropriate to mention a curious finding of Gruetzmann and Schroeter (1966). They were looking for a system to accomplish the biological production of codeine and morphine from thebaine, which does not have as much pharmacological use. They succeeded with a tissue culture of Papaver somniferum and surprisingly also with a tissue culture from Nicotiana allata, which also O-demethylated and reduced thebaine to yield codeine and morphine (Figure 6.13). No details have been published, probably because of the practical value of the procedure. 

Analysis of extracts obtained with cell cultures derived hom Papaver bracteatum and Papaver somniferum revealed the occurrence of thebaine in the former, of thebaine, codeine, and to a lesser extent of morphine in the latter material (Tables 1,2). Considering the many attempts to demonstrate morphinan alkaloids in cell cultures which remained unsuccessful and unreported, detection of occurrence would have been described until quite recently as a rare phenomenon. The availability of a radioimmunoassay and other improved analytical systems would explain the surge of reports of accumulation since 1980. According to recent analyses, concentrations of morphinan alkaloids are as low or lower than in leaf tissue (0.14% DW), and much lower than in dried latex, opium (ca. 20% DW). 

Hsu A-F (1981) Effect of protein synthesis inhibitors on cell growth and alkaloid production in cell cultures of Papaver somniferum. J Nat Prod 44 408-414 Hudson MJ, Goldsworthy A (1981) Microdetermination of essential oils in plant tissues. ASPP Newslett 8 25... 

Nessler CL (1984) Tissue culture and somatic embryogenesis in opium poppy. In Bajaj VPS (ed) Tissue culture of economically important plants. Submitted Nessler CL, Mahlberg PG (1977) Ontogeny and cytochemistry of alkaloid vesicles in laticifers of Papaver somniferum L. Am J Bot 64 541-551... 

Ranganathan B, Mascarenhas AF, Sayagaver BM, Jagannathan V (1963) Growth of Papaver somniferum in vitro. In Maheshwari P (ed) Plant tissue and organ culture. Int Soc Plant Morphol, Univ Delhi, pp 108-110... 

Roberts MF, McCarthay D, Kutchan TM, Coscia CJ (1983) Localization of enzymes and alkaloi-dal metabolites in Papaver latex. Arch Biochem Biophys 222 599-609 Schuchmann R, Wellmann E (1983) Somatic embryogenesis of tissue cultures of Papaver somniferum and Papaver orientate and its relationship to alkaloid and lipid metabolism. Plant Cell Rep 2 88-91... 

Yoshikawa T, Furuya T (1983) Regeneration and in vitro flowering of plants derived from callus cultures of opium poppy Papaver somniferum). Experientia 39 1031-1033 Zenk MH, El-Shagi H, Arens H, Stockigt J, Weiler EW, Deus B (1977) Formation of the indole alkaloids serpentine and ajmalicine in cell suspension cultures of Catharanthus roseus. In Barz W, Reinhard E, Zenk MH (eds) Plant tissue culture and its bio-technological application. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 27-43... 

Furuya T, Ikuta A, Syono K (1971) Plant tissue culture XV. Alkaloids from callus tissues of Papaver somniferum. Phytochemistry 11 3041... 

Tam WHJ, Constabel F, Kurz WGW (1980) Codeine from cell suspension cultures of Papaver somniferum. Phytochemistry 18 486-487 White PR (1963) The cultivation of animal and plant cells. Ronald Press, New York Yamamoto H, Ishida M, Tomimoro T (1981) Studies on the fundamental cultures of Coptis japonica voi. faponica. Shoyakugaku Zasshi 35 1-8 Zenk MH, Deus B (1982) Natural product synthesis by plant ceU cultures. Plant tissue culture 1982. Proc 5th Int Congr Plant Tissue CeU Culture, pp 391-392 Zito SW, Staba EJ (1982) Thebaine from root cultures of Papaver bracteatum. Planta Med 45 53-54... 

Roberts MF, Antoun MD (1978) The relationship between L-DOPA decarboxylase in the latex of Papaver somniferum and alkaloid formation. Ph3rtochemistry 17 1083-1087 Roberts MF, McCarthy D, Kutchan TM, Coscia CJ (1983) Localization of enzyme and alkaloidal metabolites in Papaver latex. Arch Biochem Biophys 222 599-609 Rueffer M, El-Shagi H, Nagakura N, Zenk MH (1981) (S)-Norlaudanosoline synthetase the first enzyme in the benzylisoquinoline biosynthetic pathway. FEBS Lett 129 5-9 Sasse F, Backs-Hiisemann D, Barz W (1979) Isolation and characterization of vacuoles from cell suspension cultures of Daucus carota. Z Naturforsch 34 848-853 Schuchmann R, Wellmann E (1983) Somatic embryogenesis of tissue cultures of Papaver somniferum and Papaver orientate and its relationship to alkaloid and lipid metabolism. Plant Cell Rep 2 88-91... 

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