Plants have evolved a diverse array of secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways. Undifferentiated plant cells, however, tend to biosynthesize secondary metabolites to a lesser extent and sometimes not at all. This phenomenon in cultured cells is associated with the transcriptional suppression of biosynthetic genes due to epigenetic alterations, such as low histone acetylation levels and/or high DNA methylation levels. Here, using cultured cells of bamboo (Bambusa multiplex; Bm) as a model system, we investigated the effect of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors on the activation of cryptic secondary metabolite biosynthesis. The Bm suspension cells cultured in the presence of an HDAC inhibitor, suberoyl bis-hydroxamic acid (SBHA), exhibited strong biosynthesis of some compounds that are inherently present at very low levels in Bm cells. Two major compounds induced by SBHA were isolated and were identified as 3-O-p-coumaroylquinic acid (1) and 3-O-feruloylquinic acid (2). Their productivities depended on the type of basal culture medium, initial cell density, and culture period, as well as the SBHA concentration. The biosynthesis of these two compounds was also induced by another HDAC inhibitor, trichostatin A. These results demonstrate the usefulness of HDAC inhibitors to activate cryptic secondary metabolite biosynthesis in cultured plant cells.

植物已经进化出多种次生代谢物生物合成途径。然而，未分化的植物细胞倾向于在较小程度上生物合成次生代谢物，有时根本不会。培养细胞中的这种现象与由于表观遗传改变引起的生物合成基因的转录抑制有关，例如低组蛋白乙酰化水平和/或高 DNA 甲基化水平。在这里，我们使用培养的竹细胞 ( Bambusa multiplex ; Bm) 作为模型系统，研究了组蛋白去乙酰化酶 (HDAC) 抑制剂对神秘的次生代谢物生物合成激活的影响。在 HDAC 抑制剂（辛二酰二）存在下培养的 Bm 悬浮细胞-异羟肟酸 (SBHA)，表现出一些化合物的强生物合成，这些化合物在 Bm 细胞中本来就以非常低的水平存在。分离出由 SBHA 诱导的两种主要化合物，分别为 3 - O - p-香豆酰奎尼酸 ( 1 ) 和 3 - O-阿魏酰奎尼酸 ( 2 )。它们的生产力取决于基础培养基的类型、初始细胞密度和培养期，以及 SBHA 浓度。这两种化合物的生物合成也受到另一种 HDAC 抑制剂曲古抑菌素 A 的诱导。这些结果证明了 HDAC 抑制剂可用于激活培养的植物细胞中的次生代谢物生物合成。