A B S T R A C T

Major compound of interest in purple varieties of Orthosiphon aristatus Blume Miq (O. aristatus) are sinensetin and rosmarinic acid. Unfortunately, the content of these two compounds in this plant is only in small amount. An approach to produce more of these compounds is a plant tissue culture. Hence, leaf shoot explants of a purple variety O. aristatus were inoculated on Schenk and Hildebrandt (SH) media with variations of the growth regulator 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetis acid (2,4-D). The calli formed were used as material for making cell suspension cultures. The pre- cursors cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid with respective concentrations of 0.1; 0.5; and 1 mM and salicylic acid (14, 70, and 140 mg/L) were added. The media also contained Cu2+ ions (30, 40 and 50 μM), pectin (0.05; 0.1; 0.2% w/v) and AgNO3 (80, 100, 120 μM) respectively. Callus that grew on SH media with 2,4-D 0.4 ppm had a good profile, since it could produce callus faster than 2,4-D 1 ppm and 2 ppm with a friable texture on this medium. The cell suspension culture added with cinnamic acid 1 mM (S3) and Cu2+ 40 μM (C2) had a good growth curve compared to other elicitor and precursors. The highest levels of rosmarinic acid and sinensetin were found in cell suspension cultures adding with 1 mM cinnamic acid precursor. This study is believed to be the first report on the production of rosmarinic acid and sinensetin from
suspension cultures of O. aristatus produced on SH media.

Keywords: O. aristatus Plant tissue culture In vitro culture modification Sinensetin Rosmarinic acid