Ephedra alata is an important Egyptian medicinal plant with enormous applications in pharmaceutical industry. Shake-flask suspension cultures of E. alata were established from internodal segment-derived callus. The suspension cultures were treated with two biotic elicitors, namely Aspergillus niger and yeast extract, to enhance the synthesis of ephedrine – the bioactive constituent of E. alata. Ephedrine was quantified using the high performance liquid chromatography technique. Ephedrine concentration was not directly related to biomass production. Aspergillus niger and yeast extract enhanced the production of ephedrine by 2.5- to 7-fold after different durations of incubation as compared to ephedrine content in the mother plant. Treatment with the fungal elicitor A. niger extract induced the maximum accumulation of ephedrine at the concentration of 1.67%; it also increased ephedrine biosynthesis by 7-fold in 24-day-old culture as compared to the ephedrine content in the mother plant and caused higher ephedrine biosynthesis than that in the control treatment without elicitors. The present protocol could be applicable for the large-scale production of ephedrine from E. alata.
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