Control of development and valepotriate production by auxins in micropropagated Valeriana glechomifolia.

Valeriana glechomifolia is a plant species endemic to southern Brazil that accumulates valepotriates, which are terpene derivatives, in all of its organs. Valepotriates are the presumed sedative generic components of the pharmaceutically used species of Valeriana. The influence of various concentrations of the auxins indole-3-acetic acid, indole-3-butyric acid and alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid on the growth of micropropagated V. glechomifolia was investigated under conditions of transient and continuous exposure. Changes in the development of roots and shoots as well as the production of the valepotriates acevaltrate, valtrate and didrovaltrate (analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography) were evaluated. The best performance in valepotriate production, growth and survival under ex vitro conditions following plant acclimatization was achieved in the continuous presence of 5.71 microM IAA. When cultured in medium containing IAA plants produced stable levels of valepotriates throughout the entire cultivation period.

Complementation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae srb1-1 mutation: an autoselection system for stable plasmid maintenance.

The autonomously replicating plasmid YEpSS1, containing the S. cerevisiae SOD1 and SRB1 genes, was highly unstable in a wild-type strain. When transformed into a fragile srb1-1 mutant host, the same plasmid displayed different characteristics depending on the growth medium used. Both batch and continuous culture experiments demonstrated that the plasmid was very unstable when the transformed strain SLU15 was grown in the presence of an osmotic stabiliser (10% w/v sorbitol). However, in the absence of the osmoticum, nearly 100% of the cells retained the plasmid and produced the Sod1 protein after 80 generations of growth.