When cultivated in Murashige & Skoog medium supplemented with 0.2 mg l(-1) 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and 0.5 mg 1(-1) 6-benzyladenine, Perilla frutescens cells in suspension culture grew rapidly reaching about 13.6g dry wt l(-1) after 12 days. The cell line produced both anthocyanin 0.9 g l(-1) and triterpenoids: 16 mg l(-1) oleanolic acid (OA), 25 mg l(-1) ursolic acid (UA) and 14 mg l(-1) tormentic acid (TA). When P. frutescens cells of 7-day-old cultures were exposed to a yeast elicitor at 0.5-5% (v/v) for 7 days, it was found that anthocyanin content peaked at 10.2% of dry weight with yeast elicitor at 1% (v/v) whereas the maximum production of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in cultures treated with 2% (v/v) yeast elicitor was 19 and 27 mg l(-1), a 46 and 24% increase over the control, respectively. This is the first report of simultaneous production of both anthocyanin and triterpenoids in a single culture system. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.