Annual-Report-2019

STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE
COSMECEUTICALS IN IN VITRO
CULTURES OF HERBAL PLANTS
Life & Health Sciences 2019
34
Dr Bilal Haider Abbasi
LE STUDIUM Research Fellow
ARD 2020 - COSMETOSCIENCES Programme / PRESTIGE
From: Quaid-i-Azam University - PK
In residence at: Biomolecule and Plant Biotechnology (BBV)
- Tours & Laboratory of Woody Plants and Crops Biology
(LBLGC) - Chartres
Nationality: Pakistani
Dates: January 2018 to September 2019
After completing PhD from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,
China, Dr Bilal Haider Abbasi joined Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
in June 2008 as Assistant Professor of Biotechnology. Since his inception, he has
supervised 66 Masters and 11 PhD theses. After establishing feasible platform
for production of Caffeic acid derivatives from Echinacea purpurea submerged
culture, he focused on medicinal plant biotechnology. Till to date, he has published
110+ research papers in internationally renowned impact factor journals. He has
won several research grants from different institutions of Pakistan. In 2014, he
was awarded the Quaid-i-Azam University Best Young Researcher Award in
recognition of his outstanding achievements in Faculty of Biological Sciences.
He got promoted to Tenured Associate Professor of Biotechnology in August
201. In 2016, he obtained the Pakistan Academy of Sciences Gold medal for
Biotechnology in recognition of his contributions to the development of medicinal
plant biotechnology at National level. In 2017 he was declared as Most productive
scientist in Department of Biotechnology, Quaid-i-Azam University by Pakistan
Council for Science & Technology.
Prof. Nathalie Guivarc’h
Host scientist
She is a full professor and the director of the Plant biomolecules and
biotechnologies laboratory (EA2106) at the University of Tours. After a
PhD in plant physiology and metabolism from Orsay-Paris XI University
and a Post-doc in the Institute of Plant Sciences (ISV) in Gif-sur-Yvette,
she obtained a position in the University of Tours. Her research themes
are articulated around the identification, characterization and valorization
of specialized plant metabolisms for biotechnological applications
including metabolic engineering processes for the production of bioactive
compounds of interest for pharmaceutical, cosmetic or agronomic
applications. She has been involved in more than 20 collaborative projects
(regional, national and europeen) in plant biology and biotechnological
fields and is co-authors of 82 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr Christophe Hano
Host scientist
He is an associate professor at the University of Orléans and conducts his
research activity at the LBLGC Lab, focusing mostly on plant physiology,
molecular biology, and biochemistry. He mostly work on the regulation
aspects controlling polyphenol biosynthesis in planta as well as on the
development of methods of their extraction. The main objectives of his
work are to elucidate the mechanisms of the regulation of the biosynthesis
of these compounds with high potential for cosmetic and pharmaceutical
applications, to provide informations dealing with their biological activities
and to develop green sustainable extraction methods. He is a member of
the Polyphenols Group and the Phytochemical Society of Europe. He is
co-authors of 70 peer-reviewed papers.
The overall goals of the current proposal were to elucidate the
phytochemical basis of the common traditional knowledge of
the species by comparing the chemical composition of herbal
plants grown as axenic cultures under identical nutritional,
growth regulators and environmental regimes. Enhancing
biologically active ingredients (BAIs) content in cell cultures
of herbal plants by application of elicitors (biotic & abiotic)
copes with the increasing demand of phenolic compounds.
The specific goals were to identify feasible production of BAIs
in cell lines of various selected species from preliminary
experiments, to apply biotic and abiotic elicitors and evaluate
their influence on growth kinetics, biochemical parameters,
antioxidative stress enzymes and phytochemicals, etc. To
identify BAIs in cells grown under different elicitors and
conditions. To establish correlation between different elicitors
and biologically active ingredients (BAIs) biosynthesis.
Several regional herbal plant species were selected
and evaluated for their biosynthetic potential. Linum
usitatissimum, Linum grandiflorum, Arctium lappa, Silybum
marianum, Trifolium pratense, Echinacea purpurea were
selected for further experiments. Seeds were collected and
inoculated on Murashige & Skoog medium for germination.
The average time to obtain feasible plantlets for explant
ranges from 6-8 weeks. Leaf and stem explants were
exploited to establish in vitro callus cultures. Several plant
growth regulators (PGRs) were tested to optimise callus
induction response. Synergestic combination of cytokinins
with auxin induced optimum response in these explants.
Phytochemical profile was evaluated by HPLC to determine
the pattern of BAIs accumulation. Dark and photoperiod
conditions were are also exploited to evaluate growth
behaviour and phytochemical accumulation in these calli
cultures. Some new findings are made from this research
which is opening new dimensions for future research. We
have evaluated antioxidant potential with different protocols/
reagents and found that extract from similar cell lines have
shown different levels of antioxidant potential. Antiageing
activities were also evaluated and some extracts with
considerable activities. Heat map data showed relationship
between different metabolites and their antioxidant and
antiageing potential. Correlation was established among
different data and developped a new platform to select
optimum cell line. Principal component analysis (PCA)
technique was exploited to establish insight into biological
methods and other parameters. This is the very first time
that PCA have been utilized to evaluate feasible cell lines
for biosynthesis of commercially attractive BAIs. It has been
observed that the cells grown in LBLGC and BBV had diverse
biosynthetic potential. It is observed that these variations in
biosynthetic potential were induced due to different culture
conditions. This phenomenon is known as epigenetics
and paves new path for further exploration of biosynthetic
pathways of BAIs and their link with different environmental
conditions.
To make biosynthesis of these metabolites feasible, elicitation
strategy was adopted. Several abiotic and biotic elicitors
were applied on these cell lines. In preliminary experiments,
the optimum concentration of these elicitors was selected.
The phytochemical analysis has shown considerable
enhancement in accumulation of these BAIs. The timing of
elicitation was evaluated and log phase of culture time was
found optimum. Different species have shown different trend
and accumulation of BAIs. All selected species have shown
considerable potential in biosynthesis of these BAIs.