Accumulation of podophyllotoxin and related lignans in cell suspension cultures of Linum album

Cell suspension cultures of Linum album were established, which were able to synthesize and accumulate lignans. Podophyllotoxin and 5-methoxypodophyllotoxin were the main products and were present as glycosides, together with small amounts of deoxypodophyllotoxin, 5′-demethoxy-5-methoxypodophyllotoxin, lariciresinol, pinoresinol, matairesinol, α- and β-peltatin, as well as the monolignol glucoside, coniferin. In dark and light grown cultures, maximal product yields of lignans of up to 0.2% and 0.5% of the dry weight, respectively, were achieved, mainly consisting of podophyllotoxin.