Adventitious root growth and ginsenoside accumulation in Panax ginseng cultures as affected by methyl jasmonate

Abstract

Adventitious roots of ginseng were treated with methyl jasmonate (MJ) up to 150 μM and cultured for 40 days. Up to 100 μM MJ inhibited the root growth but increased ginsenoside accumulation. In a two-stage bioreactor culture, total ginsenosides, after elicitation with 100 μM MJ peaked after 10 days at 48 mg g-1 dry wt and then dropped sharply. Of the two groups of ginsenosides (Rb and Rg), higher amounts of Rb accumulated in the adventitious roots.