Boualem Harfi

• PhD.
• Head of Department at Le Centre de Recherche en Biotechnologie

Explants of two species of Mentha rotundifolia (L.) Huds and Mentha pulegium L. were evaluated for in vitro callus induction at Biotechnology Research Center (C.R.Bt), Algeria, during 2018, using MS medium supplemented with different hormonal combinations of NAA (naph-thaleneacetic acid) and KIN (Kinetine) mg/l. Objective of our study is to develop...

The secondary metabolism of higher plants produces a wide variety of products which are an important source of biomolecules used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. The alkaloids are the most important secondary metabolites by their diversity. There are several groups of alkaloids, including the group of tropane alkaloids. Biotechnology cons...

In this study we discuss Mentha pulegium shoot multiplication and the capacity of in vitro plants to produce essential oils (EOs). EO was obtained by hydrodistillation from dried leaves and flowering stems of in vitro and field-grown plants, and their chemical composition was examined by GC-MS. The differences in yield as well as quantitative and q...

Medicinal plants have always drawn interest in scientific research as well as industry, particularly, pharmaceutical and agri-food industries. With a view to preserving and sustainably exploiting local biological resources, the main objective of this study was the establishment of an optimized biotechnological process for the production of Origanum...

Abstract Plant secondary metabolites play a major role in plant adaptation to stress. Species belonging to Solanaceae family and Datura genus produce tropane alkaloids: D. stramonium, D. tatula and D. innoxia. These species are cultivated for their hyoscyamine (HS) content, whence the interest of this study to induce transformed roots of these spec...

Mentha rotundifolia (L.) Huds is an aromatic plant used for its medicinal values. This study aims to select appropriate conditions for in vitro propagation of M. rotundifolia (L.) Huds and to evaluate yield and antioxidants activity of its essential oils (EOs). The explants were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing different conce...

Rosmarinus eriocalyx (rosemary or Elyazir) is an endemic species growing in arid steppe and rocky mountain in the South-West Algeria. This plant is well known in Algeria and Morocco due to its medicinal properties. However, little is known about its phytochemical composition. For this purpose, natural antioxidant compounds from R. eriocalyx were re...

Abstract Context: Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don (Apocynaceae) is still one of the most important sources of terpene indole alkaloids including anticancer and hypertensive drugs as vincristine and vinblastine. These final compounds have complex pathway and many enzymes are involved in their biosynthesis. Indeed, ajmalicine and catharanthine are im...

Several species of the genus Datura have been cultivated for their hyoscyamine content. Hyoscyamine production in field-cultivated plants can often be limited by environmental conditions. The culture of hairy roots obtained by inoculation of Datura explants with the A4 strain of Agrobacterium rhizogenes offers promising prospects for the in vitro p...

Solanaceae, particularly species of the Datura genus, are rich in tropane alkaloids including hyoscyamine. This study examines the relationship between biomass and hyoscyamine accumulation in hairy roots of three species of Datura sp. The experiment was conducted in-vitro on hairy roots induced by Agrobacterium rhizogenes “strain A4”. A linear...

Tropane alkaloids present a great economic value in particular for pharmaceutical industry. The culture of Datura sp hairy roots obtained by inoculation with A4 Agrobacterium rhizogenes offers promising prospects for alkaloids in-vitro production. The objective of our study is to try optimizing hyoscyamine production exploiting the composition of m...

This study focused on the production of hyoscyamine through biotechnology process which is commonly us ed to enhanc e produc t ion of s econda ry me t abolite s of int er es t . To thi s end, ha i ry roots of 3 spe cie s of Datura s tr amo n ium we r e obta ined fol lowing gene t ic t rans forma t ion of hypocotyls us ing A4 s t ra in of A g r o b...

The Catharanthus roseus produces monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, which have high therapeutic interest. The biotechnological approach with in vitro shoot cultures remains an alternative to the field culture of Catharanthus roseus for the production of such compounds. In this investigation, Catharanthus roseus shoot were induced from a cotyledons of...