Dana Rafiee - Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Ali Ebrahimi - Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Nassrin Qavami - Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, Karaj, Iran
Nasim Zarinpanjeh - Medicinal Plants Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plants, ACECR, Karaj, Iran

Nitraria schoberi L. is a medicinal plant with antioxidant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory and, anti-viral properties. This plant is also tolerant to salinity and drought. The main aim of this study was to perform elicitation in cell suspension culture of N. schoberi to detect the production of total phenolic and flavonoid contents. In order to accomplish this study, hypocotyls and cotyledonary leaves of N. schoberi were cultured in different callus induction treatments. At the next step, the calli from the best callus induction treatment were transferred to cell suspension cultures containing sodium chloride (NaCl) and salicylic acid (SA) alone or in combination. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents in treatments were measured using a spectrophotometer (absorbance at ۷۶۵ nm and ۴۳۰ nm, respectively). According to the results, although callus induction was observed in all treatments, the maximum fresh weight (FW) (۷.۶ g) and dry weight (DW) (۳.۷ g) were obtained by culturing hypocotyl explants in MS medium supplemented with ۲, ۴-dichrolophenoxyacetic acid (۲, ۴-D) at ۰.۵ mg/L. The highest total phenolic content (۶۲.۲ mg/g) and total flavonoid content (۴۸.۲۴ mg/g) were detected in suspension culture containing ۱۰۰ millimolar (mM) NaCl and ۵۰ micromolar (µM) SA. Elicitation in suspension culture of N. schoberi can be an effective method for increasing the production of secondary metabolites (phenolic and flavonoid compounds).

Callus induction, Elicitor, Medicinal plants, Secondary metabolites, Suspension culture