International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article New Insight into Justicidin B Pathway and Production in Linum austriacum Iride Mascheretti 1, Michela Alfieri 2, Massimiliano Lauria 1, Franca Locatelli 1, Roberto Consonni 2, Erica Cusano 2, Roméo A. Dougué Kentsop 1 , Marina Laura 3, Gianluca Ottolina 2, Franco Faoro 4 and Monica Mattana 1,* 1 Institute of Agricultural Biology and Biotechnology, National Research Council, Via Bassini 15, 20133 Milan, Italy;
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[email protected] (M.L.);
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[email protected] (R.A.D.K.) 2 Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “Giulio Natta”, National Research Council, Via Mario Bianco 9, 20133 Milan, Italy; michela.alfi
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[email protected] (G.O.) 3 CREA Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (CREA OF), Corso degli Inglesi 508, 18038 Sanremo, Italy;
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[email protected] Abstract: Lignans are the main secondary metabolites synthetized by Linum species as plant defense compounds but they are also valuable for human health, in particular, for novel therapeutics. In this work, Linum austriacum in vitro cultures, cells (Cc), adventitious roots (ARc) and hairy roots (HRc) were developed for the production of justicidin B through elicitation with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and coronatine (COR). The performances of the cultures were evaluated for their stability, total Citation: Mascheretti, I.; Alfieri, M.; phenols content and antioxidant ability.