PLANT TISSUE CULTURE Protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) of Dendrobium Sabin Blue: a novel source for in vitro production of dendrobine and anthocyanin Chee Keong Chin 1,2 & Christine Stanly 1 & Asokan Muniandy 3 & Surash Ramanathan 3 & Vikneswaran Murugaiyah 4 & Bee Lynn Chew 1 & Sreeramanan Subramaniam 1,5,6,7 Received: 20 December 2019 /Accepted: 13 January 2021 / Editor: Praveen Saxena # The Society for In Vitro Biology 2021 Abstract Dendrobium hybrids have been cultivated as commercially important ornamental plants in the floriculture industry. However, the potential of Dendrobium hybrids as a source of valuable secondary metabolites has not been fully exploited. In this study, the effect of various elicitors on the proliferation of protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) of Dendrobium Sabin Blue and the corresponding production of dendrobine and anthocyanin was investigated. Yeast extract (YE) and glutamine (both at 200 mg L -1 ) increased dendrobine content in PLBs by 2.7- and 6.5-fold (54.874 ± 2.553 and 894.481 ± 26.185 ng mg -1 dry weight (DW)) compared to controls (20.051 ± 0.182 and 136.956 ± 7.397 ng mg -1 DW). Glutamine (200 mg L -1 ) also significantly enhanced PLB biomass (0.190 ± 0.009 g) with respect to the control (0.144 ± 0.003 g). Chitosan and salicylic acid (SA) were not effective in enhancing the dendrobine and anthocyanin contents in PLBs. A combination of 4 mg L -1 NAA and 100 mg L -1 arginine increased dendrobine content by 8-fold (123.793 ± 5.446 ng mg -1 DW) compared to the control (15.554 ± 0.406 ng mg -1 DW). Anthocyanin content was increased by 1.7-fold (0.548 ± 0.019 Color Value (CV) g -1 DW) when PLBs treated with 4 mg L -1 TDZ were exposed to 1.5 h of UV irradiation as compared to those without UV treatment (0.331 ± 0.019 CV g -1 DW). Despite the low dendrobine content, PLBs as a source of dendrobine remains appealing due to its short culture duration (6 wk) compared to mother plants (2 yr). Keywords Plant growth regulators . Amino acids . Elicitors . Orchid tissue culture . Secondary metabolites Key message • To date, dendrobine and anthocyanins have not been reported in PLBs of Dendrobium species. • In this study, PLBs of Dendrobium ‘Sabin Blue’ were used for producing dendrobine and anthocyanin compounds. • This study aimed to establish an efficient PLB culture system of Dendrobium ‘ Sabin Blue’ that can enhance the production of dendrobine and anthocyanin by using elicitors, amino acids, plant growth regulators (PGRs), and ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. • Dendrobine and anthocyanin contents of PLBs, in vitro, and mother plants were compared to make a preliminary assessment of the enhance- ment strategies. * Sreeramanan Subramaniam sreeramanan@gmail.com 1 School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 2 Teacher Education Institute Malaysia Tuanku Bainun Campus, 14000 Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia 3 Centre for Drug Research, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 4 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia 5 Centre for Chemical Biology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia 6 School of Bioprocess Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia 7 National Poison Centre, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology - Plant https://doi.org/10.1007/s11627-021-10159-3