Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) production towards the utilization for a new century

In the last years many studies on anthocyanins, the flavonoids responsible for the orange, red and blue colors in different plant organs, have revealed their antioxidant activity and a possible use as chemotherapeutics. The finding that tart cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) contain a great amount of anthocyanins, constituents that possess strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, have attracted much attention. Here, we report the preliminary results of the induction of anthocyanin biosynthesis in sour cherry callus cell cultures and the characterization of those callus cultures for cell growth and anthocyanin production. Callus cultures have been obtained from the leaf of in vitro grown shoots of two sour cherry cultivars, Amarena Mattarello (A.M.) and Stevnsbaer (S.). Several in vitro culture conditions have been tested to induce the anthocyanin biosynthesis using different media with reduced nitrogen and elevated sucrose contents in order to stimulate anthocyanin accumulation. No stimulatory affect from elevated sucrose concentration was observed, while reduced nitrogen and light seems to be the triggering factors. The pigment production is absent during the first days of growth at the light; afterwards, the pigment accumulation is stimulated by elicitors as light and nutritional factors, and reach a maximum nearly the 20th day of culture, during the exponential phase of growth. The in vitro pigment production system described in cherry callus cultures has given these preliminary but encouraging results, making the plant material very suitable and plastic to the in vitro manipulations.