THE EFFECTS OF CELLULASE ON CAPSAICIN PRODUCTION IN FREELY SUSPENDED CELLS AND IMMOBILIZED CELL CULTURES OF CAPSICUM ANNUUM L.

Abstract

The effect of different concentrations of cellulase on the production of capsaicin in freely suspended cell and immobilized cell cultures of Kahramanmaraş pepper seeds (Capsicum annuum L.) were studied. Calluses were obtained from in vitro germinated hypocotyl explants of pepper seedlings and cell suspensions were prepared from these calluses. Immobilized cell suspension cultures with calcium alginate and free cell suspension cultures were obtained by using cell suspensions. Elicitor such as cellulase (5-30 µg/ml), was applied both for the free and immobilized cell suspensions and control group without elicitor was prepared. The concentration of capsaicin in freely suspended cells, immobilized cells and their filtrates were identified by HPLC after extraction with ethyl acetate. It was found that the immobilization process had an increasing effect on the capsaicin accumulation. The concentration of capsaicin in the immobilized cells for both control groups and elicitor added samples was higher than the free cells. In general, capsaicin concentration in the filtrate for free cells was higher than the immobilized cells. When all the cellulase and the sampling hours were compared, the highest capsaicin concentration for the immobilized cells was determined as 362,91 µg/g f.w. at the 24th hour for 30 µg/ml cellulase applied samples.