Somatic embryogenesis of Pelargonium sidoides DC.

Abstract

Pelargonium sidoides is a high value medicinal plant endemic to South Africa and the Lesotho Highlands. Establishing an efficient regeneration system through somatic embryogenesis is necessary for its conservation. An efficient reproducible protocol for in vitro plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis of Pelargonium sidoides, an important medicinal plant, is reported for the first time. Embryogenic callus was obtained on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 2.0 mg L -1 picloram, 0.5 mg L -1 thidiazuron and 20 mg L -1 glutamine. Different developmental stages of somatic embryos (SEs: globular embryos, heart shaped embryos, torpedo shaped embryos and cotyledon embryo with radicle) were directly obtained and further matured from embryogenic callus by subsequent subculture on the same medium. The highest frequency of somatic embryos (25.89 ± 1.50) was recovered after 6 weeks. Scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis revealed the presence of embryogenic cell clusters that formed cotyledonary embryos. Mature somatic embryos germinated and developed into plantlets after 4 weeks on half-strength MS medium. High plant regeneration frequency (94.4 %) was achieved on half-strength MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg L -1 gibberellic acid. Rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized in the greenhouse with a survival rate of 90 %. The protocol developed would be helpful in reducing stress on natural habitats, provide a system for germplasm conservation, regeneration of large numbers of high value clonal plants for commercial production, the isolation of bioactive compounds and genetic transformational studies.

High-Efficiency Somatic Embryogenesis from Seedlings of Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.

“…In the study about Elaeis guineensis, the ability of NAA to promote somatic embryo development is poor compared with other PGRs [27]. Moreover, other PGRs, such as strigolactone and picloram, have been used to enhance SE in other plants [21,[36][37][38], and picloram performed better than NAA in Eucalyptus species [17]. However, in a study of Chamaecyparis thyoides L., SE was achieved without the help of plant growth regulators, and the authors speculated that PGRs have no effect on SE in some conifers including Chamaecyparis species due to their high endogenous indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) levels [22].…”

Plantlet regeneration from young leaf segments of curaua (Ananas erectifolius), an Amazon species

“…This is in accordance with a report by Guo et al (2011), which stated that TDZ has auxin-and cytokinin-like effects in different plant species. Picloram, BAP, and 2,4-D were ineffective for shoot regeneration from calli in A. erectifolius; however, many studies have reported successful application of these growth regulators for enhancing shoot formation in strawberry (Kordestani and Karami, 2008), Urochloa species (Takamori et al, 2015), Vitis vinifera (Dai et al, 2015), Torenia fournieri (Chanchula et al, 2015), Pelargonium sidoides (Kumar et al, 2015), and Cordyline australis (Warchoła et al, 2015).…”

Phenolic acid profiles and antioxidant potential of Pelargonium sidoides callus cultures

“…plants were collected from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Botanical Gardens, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Sterilization was done as described by Kumar et al (2015). The leaf explants were excised into 10 mm sections and inoculated on MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium supplemented with 30 g L −1 sucrose, 0.1 g L −1 myo-inositol and different concentrations and combinations of picloram (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 M) and thidiazuron (TDZ) (1.0, 2.5, 5.0 M) for callus induction.…”