ABSTRACT

The contents of the isoflavone aglycones daidzein, genistein and glycitein (after hydrolysis of the respective glycosides) were examined in whole soybean plants and soybean cell cultures by means of GC and GC/EI-MS. In the plants, the concentrations of the isoflavones increased during the first three days of germination, and then decreased with the seedlings’ age. Genistein and glycitein, respectively were not detected after 8 and 12 days of growth, while daidzein was found even 56 days after sowing. During the entire cultivation interval, daidzein showed the highest concentrations; a maximum level of 558.4 μg g^-1, fresh weight was observed 3 days after sowing. The corresponding concentrations of genistein and glycitein amounted to 103.8 μg g^-1 and 77.7 μg g^-1, respectively. In both, the callus and suspension cultured cells, only daidzein was found. The concentration of daidzein in the cell suspensions was 0.36 μg g^-1, whereas in the callus cultures, concentrations increased up to 696.5 μg g^-1 after 8 weeks of cultivation.