高等植物通常在多细胞结构或分泌储库中积累次生代谢产物。通过缺乏适当形态结构的细胞培养物的生物技术生产这些化合物是困难的。因此，正在寻找通过器官培养有效增加其形成的可能性。金丝桃属包括许多物种，这些物种在其地上部分的深色结节中存储光活性和光毒性的萘并二蒽酮。迄今为止,根瘤中积累的金丝桃素含量与其原始形态之间的关系，包含这些结构的植物部分的形态特征尚未得到充分解释。在体外培养的12种二倍体种子来源的金丝桃属植物中，测量了金丝桃素的含量和叶片形态特征。计算叶体积和每叶结节的体积。基于这些数据,建立了具有高可靠性的三次多项式回归模型。该模型可以估计培养物的生物合成能力，并且可能有助于设计旨在在金丝桃属植物的芽培养物中激发这些独特的次生代谢产物的实验。可以开发类似的模型来解释其他植物物种的实验结果，这些植物物种以特殊的形态结构积累代谢物。
Higher plants often accumulate secondary metabolites in multicellular structures or in secretory reservoirs. Biotechnological production of such compounds by cell cultures lacking proper morphological structures is difficult, therefore possibilities for an efficient increase of their formation by organ cultures are being searched. The genus Hypericum comprises many species that store photoactive and phototoxic naphthodianthrones in the dark nodules on their above-ground parts. To date, the relation between the content of hypericins and their proto-forms accumulated in the nodules, and morphological characters of the plant parts containing these structures has not been sufficiently explained. The content of hypericins and leaf morphology characters were measured in 12 selected diploid seed-derived Hypericum species cultured in vitro. The leaf volume and the volume of the nodules per leaf were calculated. Based on these data, a cubic degree polynomial regression model with high reliability was constructed. The model enables an estimate of the biosynthetic capacity of the cultures, and may be useful in designing the experiments aimed at elicitation of these unique secondary metabolites in shoot cultures of Hypericum spp. An analogous model may be developed for interpretation of experimental results for other plant species which accumulate metabolites in specialized morphological structures.
