In vitro Regeneration and Improvement in Tropical Fruit Trees

JOURNAL SUMMARY
Srivastava, P.S., Narula, A., and Srivastava, S. 2004.
In vitro Regeneration and Improvement in
Tropical Fruit Trees: An Assessment
Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Markers. 23(2): 345-361.

In vitro regeneration protocol has been developed for many tropical fruit
trees by using juvenile as well as mature explants (stems is most popular; others
including shoot tip, nodes, and leaf).

Organogenesis involves adventitious and axillary shoot production. The

adventitious shoot production comprises de novo shoot meristem formation from
callus tissue or directly from organized tissues such as epidermal or subepidermal
cells (examples including Annona squamosa and Garcinia mangostana). The axillary
shoot production involves shoot formation from axillary buds, shoot tips, and
meristems. Shoot tip culture is the basic technique for Musa (banana) propagation.
The regenerated shoots are excised and used to produce additional shoots
(successful on guava and Citrus). The axillary shoot production is a direct method
involving multiplication of preformed buds, usually without any callus formation, and
produces in general, genetically stable cultures (done on Citrus). Organogenesis of
tropical fruit species have generally been based on Murashige and Skoog’s MS
medium. In most studies callus initiation and shoot induction have been reported on
the same medium which contains cytokinin (BAP mostly used) or a cytokinin
together with an auxin (NAA mostly used).

Somatic embryogenesis is the process in which structures are formed

containing a shoot and root connected by a closed vascular system (directly
analogous to zygotic embryos). Nucellus has been the most appropriate explant for
this process (for at least 15 species). Somatic embryogenesis has been induced
directly in cultured nucelli of Citrus and indirectly in mango and papaya. Immature
zygotic embryo has also proved to be regenerable tissue for at least 5 species. Most
successful media have been used for the induction of embryogenic cultures is based
on MS medium.

In the tropical fruit trees androgenesis (anther culture) and plantlet

regeneration have been reported in Citrus, sugar apple, papaya, longan, and Litchi.
The androgenic callus formation from in vitro culture of anthers has been reported in
guava and Feijoa. This method showed very promising result especially for
cryopreservation, but an extensive research in this area is still needed.

Somaclonal variation may be a practical approach for obtaining horticulturally

useful traits in tropical fruit trees. Progress has been made with a few fruit species to
use this technique to obtain disease resistance (Citrus aurantifolia, mango, and
banana), salt tolerance (Citrus sinensis), thornlessness (Citrus), and toxin resistance
(Citrus). Additional research still needs to be conducted to assess the phenotypic and
genotypic stability of these traits.

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 In vitro Regeneration and Improvement in Tropical Fruit Trees

In the tropical fruit trees, the artificial seed technology is progressing well.
Encapsulation of somatic embryos and plantlet regeneration has been reported in
guava, mango, and papaya. Plants were also regenerated from encapsulated shoot
tips of banana.

Production of transgenic tropical fruit also progressing well. Several

transformations have been reported based on Agrobacterium-mediated
transformation of cells or explants, such as in Citrus, papaya, and mango. Other
methods used including direct DNA transfer using electroporation and
microprojectile bombardment. There are still many problems which have to be
solved in terms of a reproducible method, but these problems are more related to
the biological or genetical phenomena than to the delivery of DNA into plant cells.

Considerable progress has been made in the recent past on in vitro plant
regeneration via organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis in tropical fruit trees by
manipulation of growth media and culture conditions as well as testing a variety of
explant sources. Androgenesis, somaclonal variation, production of synthetic seeds,
and genetically modified tropical fruits demonstrated promising results too.
Improvement in knowledge of developmental physiology and refinement in
protocols is essential for future discoveries and enhancing competitiveness and
marketability of tropical fruit trees.