Barcenas, N.M., & Aquino, G. 1997 In vitro culture of Dactylopius coccus Costa (Homoptera Dactylopiidae). Potential production of the natural dye carminic acid.. In vitro cellular & developmental biology 33: 21.

Notes: [Invertebrate - Symposia]. Prickly pear cochineal insects of the genus Dactylopius have been used as a source of crimson dye since pre-hispanic times. Although the commercial importance of this dye declined after the development of synthetic colorants, the realization that many of them are carcinogenic renewed the demand for this natural pigment in the cosmetic, food and drug industries. The Mexican species, D. coccus, has the highest percentage of carminic acid content by weight (19%). However, present in vivo production systems are not able to satisfy the increasing demand for this secondary metabolite. Our objective is to explore the potential to produce carminic acid in vitro. Polytrophic ovaries of 15d old pregnant females were dissected in sterile Ringer's solution and disinfected, cultured and maintained in Schneider's 10% FBS cell culture medium. Cell cultures have been maintained and subcultured 20 times in six months. Three out of twelve cultures produce color at various intensities. Preliminary spectrophotometric and chromatographic analyses suggest the presence of carminic acid in used media, underlying the potential to produce this dye in vitro. Since each culture is a mixture of genotypes and tissues, cloning and selection of color producing cultures may increase carminic acid yields.