Effects of conditioned medium on activities of PAL, CHS, DAHP synthase (DS-Co and DS-Mn) and anthocyanin production in suspension cultures of Fragaria ananassa.

A conditioned medium (CM) prepared from cell suspension cultures of strawberry stimulated anthocyanin synthesis. The effect was significantly (P<0.05) greater than that of synthetic medium (SM), with macronutrient concentrations, carbohydrate concentrations and pH adjusted to those of CM. The activity of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate 7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase (EC 4.1.2.15) (DS-Mn, DS-Co), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) and chalcone synthase (CHS, EC 2.3.1.74) were monitored in the CM- and SM-cultured cells. PAL and CHS activities were found to increase significantly (P<0.05) in the CM-cultured cells. CHS transcript levels were higher in the CM-cultured cells compared to transcript abundance in SM-cultured cells. There was no significant difference in the DS-Mn and DS-Co activities of cells grown in conditioned or synthetic media.