Bioreactor culture of heterotrophic sandalwood (Santalum album L.) cell suspensions utilizing a cell-lift impeller.

Growth and phenolic production by two heterotrophic suspension cultures (SW-1 and SW-2) of sandalwood cultivated in a 2.5 L bioreactor were investigated. Cultures of SW-1 cell suspensions resulted in a maximum phenolic content of 32.5 mg L(-1) compared to 12.5 mg L(-1) produced by SW-2 cell suspensions. Fresh weight doubling time (Td) was 5.8 days and the specific growth rate (μ) was 0.12 d(-1) during exponential growth for both cell lines. The pH of the culture medium decreased from 5.5 to 3.5 during the exponential growth phase of SW-1 and SW-2 cell suspensions. The dissolved oxygen content also dropped steadily during culture and remained at 40% throughout exponential growth phase. These results should provide a basis for developing sandalwood cell cultures for bioproduction of useful compounds.