Background : Agastache rugosa (A.rugosa), belongs to the Labiatae family, is a perennial plant distributed in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. It is commonly called korean mint and commercially consumed as a medicinal plant in many countries since the crop contains monoterpenes and phenylpropanoids including rosmarinic acid, tilianin and acacetin. Achievement of hairy root cultures (HRCs) through infection of A rhizogenes is a valuable alternative approach, resulting from genetic and biochemical stability, rapid growth rates and synthesis of natural products. Methods and Results : The hairy root, obtained from the explant of A.rugosa, was cultured in the basal half-strength MS (Murashige & Skoog) medium. The dry weights (DW) of hairy roots was measured after 4-days freeze dryer. The highest levels of DW were obtained at hairy roots cultured in the basal medium supplemented with glucose, galactose and sucrose. The lowest weight was recorded after HRCs in the control, meant that the medium did not contain any carbon sources. Sucrose, glucose and galactose are the most suitable for the growth of korean mint hairy roots. the rosmarinic acid contents in the hairy roots varied responding to various carbohydrates. The basal media added with sucrose resulted in the highest value of rosmarinic acid, followed by the basal media with galactose and glucose. The control showed the lowest amount of rosmarinic acid. Conclusion : In this study, carbon source are of importance for growth and accumulation of rosmarinic acid accumulation in korean mint hairy roots. Especially, the accumulation of rosmrinic acid and hairy root growth was the most appropriate carbohydrate. The current study suggests HRCs of korean mint could provide an valuable alternative approaches for the enhanced production of rosmarinic acid.

Perilla frutescens (L.) is an edible plant, not only used as s food ingredient, but also in skin cream, soaps, and medicinal preparetions. ‘Atom-Ros’, a perilla (Perilla frutescenc (L.) Britt. cv. Chookyoupjaso was developed in 1995 by 200 Gy gamma irradiation-mutagenesis. This new cultivar has high rosmarinic acid content more than two fold compare with ‘Chookyoupjaso’ control. The observed phenotypical difference was changed leaf color of the ‘Atom-Ketone’ from violet to green. The yield potential of this cultivar (123.5 kg/10a) was 2.14 fold higher than that of ‘Chookyoupjaso’ (57.65 kg/10a). The methanol extracts of ‘Atom-Ros’ were tested for inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophase cells. Atom-Ros showed significant inhibition of NO production. This rosmarinic acid extracted from ‘Atom-Ros’ has a good potential to be developed as an antioxidant agent.

The influenza neuraminidase (E.C. 3.2.1.18) is an antiviral target of high pharmaceutical interest because of its essential role in cleaving sialic acid residues from surface glycoproteins and facilitating release of virions from infected cell. In this context, polyphenolic compounds including luteolin, rosmarinic acid, and apigenin from Perilla frutescens were evaluated for their inhibitory effect on recombinant virus H1N1 neuraminidase. Among the test compounds, luteolin and rosmarinic acid inhibited the rvH1N1 neuraminidase with an IC50 of 8.4 and 46.7 μM, respectively. The inhibition kinetics analyzed by Dixon plots indicates that luteolin and rosmarinic acid are noncompetitive inhibitor and inhibition constant, Ki, were established as 14.3 and 43.9 μM, respectively. Subsequently, we also analyzed the rosmarinic acid and luteolin contents of 383 accessions of perilla seed germplasms by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The rosmarinic acid and luteolin contents of perilla seeds were ranged from 15.7 μg/g to 2,894.9 μg/g and from 1.6 μg/g to 949.1 μg/g, respectively.

rosmarinic acid 생산에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위하여 5계통의 strain (13333, 15834, R1000, R1200, R1601)을 이용하여 조사한 결과 A. rhizogenes R1601이 가장 높은 72.9%의 모상근 유도율을 보였다. 모상근 유도시 모상근 발생 수와 길이 신장에 미치는 영향을 조사한 결과도 A. rhizogenes R1601으로 감염시킨 잎 조직에서 평균 5.4개의 모상근이 발생하였으며, 평균 2.0 cm의 길이 신장으로 가장 좋은 결과를 나타냈다. 다섯 계통의 A. rhizogenes감염으로부터 유도된 각각의 모상근의 생육은 서러 다른 양상을 보였으나 경향은 모상근유도 결과와 유사하였다. A. rhizogenes R1601 감염으로 유도된 모상근의 생육은 배양 2주후 건물중을 조사한 결과 13.5 g/l로 다른 계통에서 유도된 모상근 보다 생육이 양호하였으며, Rosmarinic acid 생산량도 22.6 mg/g D.W.로 다른 계통에 비하여 가장 높게 나타났다. A. rhizogenes R1601이 배초향 모상근 유도, 생육과 rosmarinic acid 생산에 가장 좋은 적합한 계통이었음을 알 수 있었다.

Perilla frutescens, which belonging to the Labiatae family, is widely cultivated oil crop and have been used traditional herbal medicine in East Asia such as Korea, China, and Japan. Especially, the leaves and the seeds of this species are important in Korean traditional cooking, as one of the popular garnish and food colorants. Numerous studies have revealed that the beneficial health effects of perilla are due to its several phytochemicals contents, such as rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, luteolin, and apigenin. For this reason, increasing the content of phytochemicals in perilla hasbecome a major breeding objective. The genetic diversity of the rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, luteolin, and apigenin content in perilla seed is poorly documented. We analyzed the rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, luteolin, and apigenin content of 203 accessions of perilla germplasm by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The rosmarinic acid and luteolin contents ofgermplasms were ranged from 15.7 μg/g to 2717.1 μg/g and from 1.6 μg/g to 582.4 μg/g respectively.

배초향 국내 수집종의 생육특성 및 수확시기별 로즈마린산과 정유함량을 조사하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 1. 수집종들의 개화기는 8월 13일~8월25일로 진도 수집종이 가장 늦었고 초장은 120~170cm, 주당 분지수는 13~21개, 화방군(花房群)의 길이는 10~15cm였으며, 화방군(花房群)의 수(數)는 13~22개로 수집종간에 유의성이 없었다. 2. 수집종들의 부위별 건물수량 (kg/10a)은 꽃 109~156kg, 잎 135~252kg, 줄기 421~932kg, 뿌리172~394kg으로 꽃과 뿌리에서는 유의성이 없었으며 건물수량은 개화 중기 (9월 20일)에 수확한 것이 가장 많았다. 3. 수집종들의 로즈마린산 함량은 모든 부위에서 유의성이 인정되었는데 꽃 0.32~2.34%, 잎 0.97~1.64%, 줄기 0.03~0.21%, 뿌리 0.91~6.56%로 뿌리의 함량이 가장 높고 줄기의 함량이 가장 낮았다. 4. 잎의 로즈마린산과 정유함량은 개화전(開花前)이 각각 3.76%, 5.78%로 개화후(開花後)의 1.55%, 2.10%보다 더 높았으며 지상부의 로즈마린산 함량은 개화전에 가장 높았으나 정유 함량은 개화말기에 가장 높았다.