Steviol glucosides production in micropropaged seedlings of Stevia rebaudiana elicited with methyl jasmonate

Abstract

Stevia rebaudiana is an herbaceous plant that produces steviol glycosides (SG), mainly stevioside and rebaudioside A, as secondary metabolites. These metabolites have become attractive due to their attributed sweetening and medicinal properties. A strategy to increase the secondary metabolites production in in vitro culture is the use of elicitors. Elicitors may be classified as biotic, or abiotic. In this paper was evaluated three concentrations of methyl jasmonate (25, 50 and 100 μΜ), and two exposure times (1 and 5 days) on SG production and growth of micropropagated Stevia rebaudiana seedlings. Elicitor exposure during 1 day, increased SG production by 1.72-, 1.85- and 1.51-fold respectively, relative to untreated seedlings (11.98 mg/g), while the fifth day exposure increased 2.17-fold SG production with 25 μΜ as compared to (11.40 mg/g). Physical damage was more visible at 50 and 100 μΜ of MeJa, at the two exposure times evaluated respect to seedlings without elicitation.