Evolutionary Aspects of Hypericin Productivity and Endogenous Phytohormone Pools Evidenced in Species In Vitro Culture Model.

Shoot cultures of hypericin non-producing L. (primitive section), hypericin-producing L., Fries (section ) and Vill. (the evolutionarily most advanced section in our study) were developed and investigated for their growth, development, hypericin content and endogenous phytohormone levels. Hypericins in wild-growing significantly exceeded those in and . also had the highest hypericin productivity in vitro in medium supplemented with 0.2 mg/L -benzyladenine and 0.1 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid and -the lowest one in all media modifications. In shoot culture conditions, the evolutionarily oldest had the highest content of salicylic acid and total jasmonates in some of its treatments, as well as dominance of the storage form of abscisic acid (ABA-glucose ester) and lowest cytokinin ribosides and cytokinin glucosides as compared with the other three species. In addition, the evolutionarily youngest was characterized by the highest total amount of cytokinin ribosides. Thus, both evolutionary development and the hypericin production capacity seemed to interact closely with the physiological parameters of the plant organism, such as endogenous phytohormones, leading to the possible hypothesis that hypericin productivity may have arisen in the evolution of as a means to adapt to environmental changes.