Production of anthocyanins by Catharanthus roseus.

A stable cell suspension line of Catharanthus roseus producing anthocyanin was obtained. In this strain it was found that approximately 30% of cells regularly accumulated these metabolites and that anthocyanin accumulation occurred between the second half of log phase and the stationary phase of the culture growth cycle. The anthocyanins in the suspension cultures were compared with those biosynthetized in the flowers both of regenerated by somatic embryogenesis and field-grown plants. Six anthocyanins were identified in all the examined samples, three 3-O-glucosides and three 3-O-(6-O-p-coumaroyl) glucosides of petunidin, malvidin and hirsutidin. The hirsutidin coumaroyl glucoside has not been reported previously, and was predominat in all samples. The anthocyanin relative content was similar for cell suspensions and flowers from regenerated plants but different from field-grown plant flowers; instead, the total content was almost the same for the two flower types and higher compared to suspension culture content.