Flavonoid content and antioxidant activity of Artemisia vulgaris L. “hairy” roots

We investigated the effect of Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation on antioxidant activity of Artemisia vulgaris “hairy” roots. It appeared that transformation may increase flavonoid content as well as DPPH-scavenging activity and ability to reduce Fe3þ as compared to the nontransformed plants. Some “hairy” roots accumulated flavonoids up to 73.1 ± 10.6mg RE/g DW (while the amount of flavonoids in the leaves of non-transformed plants was up to 49.4 ± 5.0mg RE/g DW). DPPH-scavenging activity of some “hairy” root lines was 3–3.8 times higher than such one of the roots of the control plants. The Fe3þ-reducing power of most transgenic root extracts exceeded such power of the extracts of the roots of the control plants. The decrease in SOD activity was found in the most “hairy” root lines compared to the control roots. The increase of flavonoid content correlated with the increase of ability of extracts to scavenge DPPH - radical and Fe3þ - reducing power. No correlation between SOD activity of extracts and concentration of flavonoids was found (p 0.2).Thus, transformation has led to the alteration in flavonoid accumulation and antioxidant activity in A. vulgaris “hairy” roots. Transgenic roots with high-antioxidant properties can be selected after A. rhizogenes-mediated transformationFizikos katedraVytauto Didžiojo universiteta