Biotechnology applied to Annona species: a review

Abstract

Annonaceae is an ancient family of plants including approximately 50 genera growing worldwide in a quite restricted area with specific agroclimatic requirements. Only few species of this family has been cultivated and exploited commercially and most of them belonging to the genus Annona such as A. muricata, A. squamosa, the hybrid A. cherimola x A. squamosa and specially Annona cherimola: the cherimoya, commercially cultivated in Spain, Chile, California, Florida, México, Australia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, New Zealand and several countries in South and Central America. The cherimoya shows a high degree of heterozygosis, and to obtain homogeneous and productive orchards it is necessary to avoid the propagation by seeds of this species. Additionally, the traditional methods of vegetative propagation were inefficient and inadequate, due to the low morphogenetic potential of this species, and the low rooting rate. The in vitro tissue culture methods of micropropagation can be applied successfully to cherimoya and other Annona sp to overcome these problems. Most of the protocols of micropropagation and regeneration were developed using the cultivar Fino de Jete, which is the major cultivar in Spain. First it is developed the method to micropropagate the juvenile material of cherimoya (ENCINA et al., 1994), and later it was optimized a protocol to micropropagate adult cherimoya genotypes selected by outstanding agronomical traits (PADILLA and ENCINA, 2004) and further it was improved the process through micrografting (PADILLA and ENCINA, 2011).At the present time we are involved in inducing and obtaining new elite genotypes, as part of a breeding program for the cherimoya and other Annonas, using and optimizing different methodologies in vitro: a) Adventitious organogenesis and regeneration from cellular cultures (ENCINA, 2004), b) Ploidy manipulation of the cherimoya, to obtain haploid, tetraploid and triploid plants (seedless), c) Genetic transformation, for the genes introduction to control the postharvest processes and the genes introduction to provide resistance to pathogen and insects and d) Micropropagation and regeneration of other wild Annona or related Annonaceae species such as: Annona senegalensis, A. scleroderma, A. montana, A. reticulata, A. glabra, A. diversifolia and Rollinia sp.

Propagation of Annonaceous plants

“…In vitro tissue culture (micropropagation) is among propagation methods successfully applied to species such as A. cherimola. Advances in this area are presented in a recent literature review by Encina et al (2014), who reported micropropagation with juvenile A. muricata material and protocol for micropropagation of adult A. cherimola genotypes. The authors also presented several in vitro methodologies, such as adventitious organogenesis and regeneration of cell cultures; manipulation of the 'ploidy' of A. cherimola to obtain haploid, tetraploid, triploid (seedless) plants; genetic transformation with introduction of genes aiming to control the post-harvest processes and to provide resistance to pathogens and insects; and micropropagation and regeneration of other wild species of the genus Annona, such as A. senegalensis, A. scleroderma, A. montana, among others.…”

UGP gene expression and UDP-glucose pyrophosphorylase enzymatic activity in grafting annonaceous plants

“…x Annona squamosa L.) and soursop (Annona muricata L.) have dramatically increased and many issues of incompatibility have been observed in the field. In orchards, Annonaceae species of economic importance are grafted to ensure that the genetic characteristics of productive scions are maintained (Almeida et al 2010;Encina et al 2014), however, graft incompatibility is frequently observed. Graft incompatibility is generally Communicated by LA Kleczkowski. & Daniel Baron agroozzy@yahoo.com.br; danielbaron.agro@gmail.com defined as the interruption in cambial and vascular continuity between rootstock and scion (Hartmann et al 2011;Kostopoulou and Therios 2014;Li et al 2012).…”

Multiplicação in vitro de Xylopia aromatica em diferentes meios de cultura e concentrações de BAP

“…Trabalhos que abordem a micropropagação do gênero Xylopia não são reportados na literatura. No entanto, para a família Annonaceae, principalmente para o gênero Annona, a possibilidade de uso da micropropagação tem sido investigada com o intuito de contornar problemas em relação à propagação por métodos convencionais (Encina et al, 2014).…”