OBJECTIVETo establish the induction method and culture system of hairy roots of Panax japonicus, and determine ginsenoside Re contents.

METHODHairy roots of P. japonicus was obtained through infecting pre-incubated terrestrial stem with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58C1; its enlarging culture was carried out on the 1/2MS medium, and growing characteristics were measured. The transformation of T-DNA was examined by PCR and ginsenoside Re content was determined by HPLC.

RESULTA. tumefaciens strain C58C1 could make terrestrial stem of P. japonicus bring about hairy roots, the max inductivity was 90% when infecting for 25 min. The PCR examination result showed that rolB genes could be inserted into the hair roots of P. japonicus. All hairy roots dould synthesize ginsenoside Re, among them, the max content was PJ8 with 60. 26 mg x g(-1).

CONCLUSIONIt was reported for the first time that the induction method and culture system of hairy roots of P. japonicus were established successfully, which provided a foundation for producing high content ginsenoside Re through culturing the hairy roots of P. japonicus.