The Effect of Culture System on Benzaldehyde Biotransformation by Cultured Cells of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn

The abilities of silybum marianum cell culture to biotransform benzaldehydeto benzyl alcohol in three culture systems were compared. callus cultures ofsilybum marianum were established from seedlings, and healthy suspensions andimmobilized cultures grown on the murashige and skoog medium. s. marianum cellswere immobilized in both agar beads and fiber cotton matrixes. benzaldehyde wasfed to s. marianum cell suspension and immobilized cultures. biotransformationreactions were detected over 24 hours of incubation. the cultures then wereextracted with dichloromethane and the extracts were subjected to gc and gc-msanalysis. the s. marianum culture systems exhibit different conversion rates in thereduction of benzaldehyde. immobilization seemed to have an effect on the secondarymetabolism, the cells immobilized in fiber cotton matrix were more efficient atperforming the reduction process than both the freely suspended and agar immobilizedcells. the ability of cultured plant cells to biotransform substrate appears to bedependent on the type of the culture system.