Valepotriate production of normal and colchicine-treated cell suspension cultures of Valeriana wallichii.

Colchicine-treated suspension cultures of Valeriana wallichii produce higher amounts of valepotriates than did the respective untreated cultures. The ability to produce valepotriates in the treated culture remains in the absence of colchicine even if the chromosome status returns to normal. When the colchicine treatment is repeated, a further increase in valepotriate production can be obtained. Besides known valepotriates, a series of fourteen new compounds, hitherto not described for the parent plant, were isolated from the cell suspension culture. Eight of them are also found in plant parts in minor amounts, but six seem to be present only in tissue cultures of V. wallichii.