4. Conclusions
Metabolic profiling and metabolomic techniques are reliable and well-studied investigative tools
and the use thereof provides a new approach to investigate the effects of exogenous MeJa as a
signalling molecule and elicitation agent on C. asiatica cell suspensions. The manipulation of the
centelloid metabolic profiles of C. asiatica cell suspensions by external addition of MeJa was found to
be feasible, with both quantitative and qualitative changes occurring. The combination of PCA with
metabolic profiling clearly demonstrated the metabolic changes that occurred in the cells as a function
of time through clustering of data values obtained at 2, 4 and 6 days. Asiaticoside and asiatic acid as
well as madecassoside and madecassic acid were discriminatory biomarkers in the treated extracts,
confirming the increase in their concentrations due to MeJa treatment. In addition, preliminary data
also indicated a wider reprogramming of secondary metabolite pathways. MeJa therefore seems to
target not only the pentacyclic triterpenoid pathway, but also other branches of the terpenoid metabolic
tree in C. asiatica.