EVALUATING THE ACCUMULATION TREND OF L-DOPA IN DARK-GERMINATED SEEDS AND SUSPENSION CULTURES OF Phaseolus vulgaris L. BY AN EFFICIENT UV-SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD

Seed germination and plant cell cultures provide an alternative mean for producing secondary metabolites. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the effect of seed dark germination and some elicitors and precursors on the production of L-DOPA in Phaseolus vulgaris L. Callus cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with various concentrations of different plant growth regulators. L-DOPA produced was quantified by UV-spectrophotometric method. In this study, a user-friendly, quick, and economical UV-spectrophotometric method was described to determine L-DOPA content in extracts from 33 biotypes of Phaseolus vulgaris L. The method is based on the nitrosation of L-DOPA to form a yellow solution and then formation of a red solution by adding base which is measurable at 470 nm. According to our statistical studies, this method showed high efficiency and selectivity for quantitative determination of L-DOPA in herbal extracts from dried plant seeds, dark-germinated seeds and callus cultures. L-DOPA content in dark-germinated seeds and suspension cultures increased significantly to approximately several-fold compared to the control. The implication from this study is that elicitor treatment and precursor feeding of Phaseolus vulgaris L. can significantly improve the parkinson’s relevant L-DOPA content.