ABSTRACT:
he aim of present study was to obtain transformed roots of Costus speciosus as altermative source of diosgenin. Costus speciosus (Koen.) Sm. (family Zingiberaceae), is a rhizomatous perennial herb, distributed in tropical forests throughout India. The plant serves as an ornamental and the rhizome serves as a source for treatment of various diseases like diabetes, jaundice, helminth infection, skin diseases etc. In this work, hairy root culture of Costus speciosus was developed using different strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The effect of media/environment/growth factors on biomass accumulation of the hairy root line was investigated. Hairy roots were induced on rhizomes from aseptically germinated rhizomes and suspension cultures of cells of Costus speciosus by successful transformation through plasmid transfer by Agrobacterium rhizogenes in plant cells and subcultured in liquid MSO medium in 2 and 21 days respectively. Percentage transformation of rhizomes and suspension cultures by A. rhizogenes was found to be 84% and 100% respectively. Diosgenin content was analyzed in hairy roots by HPLC and the content found was 0.2396-0.298ug/g DW while in B5 medium content was found to be 0.308ug/g DW', Diosgenin was not detected in hairy roots induced in suspension culture but found in culture fluid in comparatively higher quantity than in normal suspension cultures ie.11.8 ug/ml.