The hairy root clones of Gentiana dinarica cl-B, cl-D, cl-3, and cl-14 were cultivated in parallel in diverse simple bioreactors, including temporary immersion systems RITA® (TIS RITA®), bubble column bioreactors (BCB), and Erlenmeyer flasks (EF), and evaluated for biomass production and xanthone content. The obtained results showed that TIS RITA® and BCB containing ½ MS medium with 4% sucrose provided equally good growth conditions in which the majority of the clones displayed the higher percentage of dry matter (DM%), and xanthones norswertianin-1-O-primeveroside (nor-1-O-prim) and norswertianin production than those cultivated in EF. Thin and well branched hairy root clone cl-B grown in BCB for 7 weeks was superior regarding all growth parameters tested, including growth index (19.97), dry weight (2.88 g), and DM% (25.70%) compared to all other clones. Cl-B cultured in TIS RITA® contained the highest amount of nor-1-O-prim (56.82 mg per vessel). In BCB with constant aeration, cl-B accumulated the highest norswertianin content reaching 18.08 mg/vessel. The optimized conditions for cultivation of selected G. dinarica hairy root clones in highly aerated TIS RITA® and BCB systems contribute to the development of bioreactor technology designed for the large scale commercial production of xanthones nor-1-O-prim and norswertianin.
Keywords: TIS RITA®; bubble bioreactor; norswertianin; sucrose; transformed roots.