Bioproduction and purification of prenylated resveratrol analogs from hairy root cultures of peanut

The natural prenylated resveratrol analogs arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 exhibit anticancer activity and affinity to cannabinoid receptors. In order to study the biosynthesis of these important bioactive compounds, we established hairy root cultures of peanut as a sustainable and inducible bioproduction system for these compounds. We showed that the stressors methyl jasmonate and cyclodextrin were highly effective to induce the biosynthesis these polyphenols in 1 liter hairy root cultures. High Performance Counter Current Chromatography (HPCCC) was used to purify arachidin-1 and arachidin-3 from the culture medium. Scalable injection and decreased fraction volumes in the HPCCC system were shown to improve purification efficiency as demonstrated by HPLC and MS analysis of the purified fractions. Our results highlight the benefits of this scalable bioproduction and purification system for producing these natural products and discovering bioactive compounds with potential uses in human health.