Large-scale cultivation of adventitious roots of Echinacea purpurea in airlift bioreactors for the production of chichoric acid, chlorogenic acid and caftaric acid.

Adventitious roots of Echinacea purpurea were cultured in airlift bioreactors (20 l, 500 l balloon-type, bubble bioreactors and 1,000 l drum-type bubble bioreactor) using Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with 2 mg indole butyric acid l(-1) and 50 g sucrose l(-1) for the production of chichoric acid, chlorogenic acid and caftaric acid. In the 20 l bioreactor (containing 14 l MS medium) a maximum yield of 11 g dry biomass l(-1) was achieved after 60 days. However, the amount of total phenolics (57 mg g(-1) DW), flavonoids (34 mg g(-1) DW) and caffeic acid derivatives (38 mg g(-1) DW) were highest after 50 days. Based on these studies, pilot-scale cultures were established and 3.6 kg and 5.1 kg dry biomass were achieved in the 500 l and 1,000 l bioreactors, respectively. The accumulation of 5 mg chlorogenic acid g(-1) DW, 22 mg chichoric acid g(-1) DW and 4 mg caftaric acids g(-1) DW were achieved with adventitious roots grown in 1,000 l bioreactors.