ESSENTIAL OILS FROM HAIRY ROOT CULTURES AND FROM FRUITS AND ROOTS OF PIMPINELLA-ANISUM

Hairy root cultures of Pimpinella anisum were established following in oculation of aseptically grown plantlets with an A(4) pRiA(4) 70 GUS s train of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The essential oils from the hairy r oots, maintained in four different media, and from the fruits and root s of the parent plant were analysed and their compositions compared by GC and GC-mass spectrometry. The major components of the essential oi ls from the hairy root cultures were trans-epoxypseudoisoeugenyl 2-met hylbutyrate, geijerene, pregeijerene, zingiberene and beta-bisabolene, in varying amounts depending on the light or dark growth conditions a nd on the culture media tested. trans-Epoxypseudoisoeugenyl 2-methylbu tyrate, beta-bisabolene and pregeijerene were the major components of the essential oil from the roots of the parent plant, whereas the main component of the fruit oil was trans-anethole. Geijerenes were not de tected in the fruit oil. The essential oil yield of the transformed ro ots grown in one of the media was comparable with that obtained for th e roots of the parent plant and, calculated on a dry weight basis, the oil yield of these hairy roots was comparable with that of the fruits . (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.