High Triterpenic Acids Production in Callus Cultures from Fruit Pulp of Two Apple Varieties.
BACKGROUND
Very rarely fruit pulp has been used in in vitro culture to produce secondary metabolites useful in promoting health.


OBJECTIVE
The aims of this work were the study of the best conditions to obtain the callus cultures from the pulp of two varieties of apples, Golden Delicious (GD) and "Mela Rosa Marchigiana" (MRM), and the quali-quantitative analysis of secondary metabolites produced by the two in vitro callus cultures.


METHODS
Callus was induced on both Murashige and Skoog and Gamborg B5 media containing various combinations of supplements. To achieve the maximum recovery of secondary metabolites produced, preliminary extraction tests were carried out on GD apple culture using two different organic solvents (MeOH and EtOAc). The quali-quantitative analysis of the methanolic extract of both cultures was carried out by ESI-MSnand GC-MS techniques.


RESULTS
The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of triterpenic acids, in particular, oleanolic, ursolic, maslinic, pomolic, tormentic, corosolic and annurcoic acid along with a phytosterol, β-sitosterol. In addition, GD callus culture produced phloridzin, absent in the MRM culture. In this last culture, however, the total amount of secondary metabolites was markedly higher. The in vivo production of these bioactive compounds were also quantified in the GD and MRM apple pulps.


CONCLUSIONS
Apple pulps produced higher amounts of triterpenic acids in vitro than in vivo. The present work can be considered a method to amplify the production of important secondary metabolites which exert beneficial effects on human health. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Via delle Scienze 206, 33100, Udine, Italy.
Giancarlo
G
Verardo
Department of Humanities and Cultural Heritage, University of Udine, Vicolo Florio 2/B, 33100, Udine, Italy.
Andrea
A
Gorassini
Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino "Carlo Bo", Via Bramante 28, 61029, Urbino, Italy.
Donata
D
Ricci
Department of Biomolecular Sciences, University of Urbino "Carlo Bo", Via Bramante 28, 61029, Urbino, Italy.
Daniele
D
Fraternale
D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D027845:Malus / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000378:metabolism*
D014315:Triterpenes
Bioactive secondary metabolites; GC-MS characterisation; apple pulp; in vitro culture; phloridzin; triterpenic acids