Hairy root cultures of Salvia sclarea were grown in shake flasks and 10 L nutrient sprinkle bioreactor, running for 30 days and the effects of methyl jasmonate (MJ) oil their growth and capacity to accumulate diterpenoids were measured. We found that MJ concentration and exposure time to the elicitor were factors that strongly affected the diterpenoid production. The highest diterpenoid accumulation (67.5 + 7.1 mg g(-1) dry weight, calculated as a sum of ferruginol, salvipisone, aethiopinone and 1-oxoaethiopinone) without reduction of biomass, was achieved when the 23-day-old hairy roots in bioreactor culture were exposed to 125 mu M MJ for 7 days. The roots produced 9 and 3.8 times as much aethiopinone (40 +/- 5.9 mg g(-1) dry weight) and salvipisone (12.6 +/- 0.4 mg g(-1) dry weight). respectively, as roots Cultured in shake flasks. Our results imply that cultivation of S. sclarea hairy roots in sprinkle bioreactor after elicitation with MJ may be valuable to enhance production of the bioactive diterpenoids. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.