Melaleuca alternifolia, also known as Tea Tree, is a member of the Myrtaceae family of plants that is native to a small area in northern New South Wales, but it is cultivated for commercial production in many areas of Australia and New Zealand. Centuries ago Australian aborigines used the leaves from the plant to treat skin infections. In the 1700's, explorers brewed the leaves into a tea for drinking. Today the tea tree is harvested and steam-distilled to extract the aromatic oil which has many medicinal properties and an extensive array of bioactivity. The active ingredients are terpineol, cineol, pinene, terpinenes, and an assortment of alcohols. Currently there are issues of herbal product safety and supply within the industry. To better control both quality and to increase supply, we are developing a tissue culture method whereby the active phytomedicinal chemicals can be extracted. We describe a method for tissue culture of M. alternifolia. Five different media formulations were used to optimize plantlet growth and determine the effect of growth media on oil production. The best formulation for plantlet growth was a modified Murashige & Skoog recipe. Additionally, several organic solvents were tested for optimum terpene extraction and analyzed with GC-MS. Hexane extracts from mature plantlets contained the highest levels of terpinen-4-ol.

Optimization of tissue culture in <i>Melaleuca alternifolia</i>

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Optimization of tissue culture in Melaleuca alternifolia