Saffron (Crocus sativus) cells can synthesize crocin, crocetin digentiobiosyl ester, in suspension cultures. The crocin family biosynthesis mechanism was studied using high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determinate the glucosyltransferase activity and to develop a method for synthesizing medicine from saffron cells. Previous studies indicated that two glucosyltransferases might be involved in the formation of crocetin glucosyl- and gentiobiosyl-esters. GTase1 formed an ester bond between crocetin carboxyl groups and glucose moieties while GTase2 catalyzed the formation of glucosidic bonds with glucosyl ester groups at both ends of the molecule. These enzymes can catalyze the formation of crocetin glucosides in vitro. GTase1 activity is higher during the first four days of crocin glucosides biosynthesis, but decreases after four days. The formation and accumulation of crocin increase during the first six days and stabilized on the eighth day.

Enhancement of cell growth in suspension cultures is urgently needed in plant cell culture engineering. This study investigates the relationship between morphological transformation and cell growth in callus and suspension cultures of saffron cells belonging to the cell line C96 induced from Crocus sativus L. In the suspension culture, an unbalanced osmotic pressure between the intracell and extracell regions induced a large morphological transformation which affected normal division of the saffron cells. An increase in osmotic pressure caused by the addition of sucrose inhibits the vacuolation and shrinkage of cytoplasm in the cells. As the sucrose concentration increases, the total amount of accumulated biomass also increases. Besides the sucrose concentration, increased ionic strength and inoculation ratio also help restrain to a large extent the vacuolation and shrinkage of the cytoplasm in the suspended cells, which results in increased biomass. The conditions for optimal biomass are: Murashige and Skoog's (MS) medium with 40 g/L sucrose and 60% (v/v) inoculation ratio.