Sulforaphane Production and Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in Lepidium draba Seedlings in Presence of Yeast Extract and Silver Nitrate

Sulforaphane is produced through a hydrolytic reaction catalyzed by myrosinase from glucoraphanin. It has recently attracted researcher's interest due to its anticancer activities. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various concentrations of yeast extract (YE) and silver ion (Ag+) on sulforaphane production level in Lepidium draba seedlings. Our results revealed that the sulforaphane content is increased in seedlings that treated with the both elicitors, but more significantly by Ag+. All elicitor influences are depend on the elicitor dose and time of elicitation and maximized with YE at 1 mg/mL for 8 hours and with Ag+ at 50 µM for 4 hours treatment. It seems that the promotion of sulforaphane content results in induction of glucoraphanin biosynthesis pathway which in turn is mediated by H2O2, as revealed by a significant increase in the activity of H2O2 scavenger enzymes.