Production of bioactive secondary metabolites from flax and hemp through in vitro technology

The aim of this work was to study the ability of flax and hemp Liquid Cell Cultures (LCCs) to produce and accumulate secondary metabolites of interest for industrial/pharmaceutical purposes. At first, seven cultivars of hemp and flax were tested with a combined approach of biochemistry, molecular biology and 1H-NMR profiling to select the most promising cultivar of both species. qRT-PCR of two key genes of phenylpropanoid pathway (PAL and 4CL) and their relative specific enzymatic activity have been determined, as well as the metabolic profile of leaves extracts. On the basis of these results two cultivars, 'Valoal' for flax and 'Futura' for hemp, have been chosen to set up the cell cultures. The obtained LCCs have been characterized for total phenolics and flavonoids content, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay) and metabolic profiles- (1H-NMR). According to the class of metabolites identified the relative biosynthetic pathway has been examined by mean of key enzymatic activities and relative mRNA expression (qRT-PCR).