biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 49:451-454, 2005 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-005-0027-4

Somatic embryogenesis from zygotic embryos of Schisandra chinensis

A. Smiskova¹, H. Vlasinova¹, L. Havel^1,*

¹ Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic

We describe the multi-step regeneration system of medicinal plant Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. The seeds were pre-treated with 0.005 μM thidiazuron. Subsequently the zygotic embryos of the early heart stage were cultured on medium with 50 μM of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and after three weeks the embryogenic calli were transferred to a medium with 10 μM of 2,4-D and 4 μM of 6-benzyladenine and were sub-cultured at the 4-week intervals. Abscisic acid (30 μM) and polyethyleneglycol (3 %) significantly influenced the synchronization of development of the somatic embryos (SEs) to the globular stage. The following culture on a medium without growth regulators resulted in full developed cotyledonary stage SEs. Indole-3-butyric acid (0.05 μ) contributed to their rapid conversion to plantlets.

Keywords: abscisic acid; maturation; medicinal plant; micropropagation; somatic embryo conversion

Subjects: abscisic acid (ABA); auxins; cytokinins; embryo development, somatic; in vitro culture, micropropagation; in vitro culture, somatic embryogenesis; medicinal plants; nutrient medium, induction medium; nutrient medium MS (Murashige and Skoog); nutrient medium Westvaco medium (WVS); Schisandra chinensis; thidiazuron (TDZ); zygotic embryos

Received: August 6, 2004; Accepted: March 10, 2005; Published: September 1, 2005  Show citation