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Determination of Biomass Composition of Catharanthus roseus Hairy Roots for Metabolic Flux Analysis
Author(s) -
Sriram Ganesh,
GonzálezRivera Omar,
Shanks Jacqueline V.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1021/bp060162k
Subject(s) - catharanthus roseus , biomass (ecology) , metabolic flux analysis , chemistry , lignin , cellulose , hemicellulose , composition (language) , flux (metallurgy) , botany , metabolic engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , metabolism , biology , agronomy , enzyme , linguistics , philosophy
Metabolic flux analysis is a powerful diagnostic tool in metabolic engineering, and determination of biomass composition is indispensable to accurate flux evaluation. We report the elemental and biomolecular composition of Catharanthus roseus hairy roots, a pharmaceutically significant plant system and an important metabolic engineering target. The molecular formula of the organic material in the hairy roots was C 12.0 H 22.7 N 0.4 O 7.6 during mid‐exponential growth. The abundances of lipids, lignin, cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, protein, proteinogenic amino acids, mineral ash, and moisture in the biomass were quantified. Analysis of water‐soluble components of the biomass with 1‐D 13 C and 2‐D [ 1 H, 1 H] correlation (COSY) NMR spectroscopy revealed that the water‐soluble components were composed almost entirely of β‐glucans. Agropine, a frequently reported hairy root biomass component, was not detected. Our measurements of the biomass components quantified 83.6 ± 9.3% (w/w) of the biomass. Together with previously reported abundances of indole alkaloids, we accounted for at least 85.9 ± 11.6% (w/w) of the carbon in the biomass, which enabled the precise determination of 12 biomass synthesis fluxes.