(280) Plant Regeneration of Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) from In Vitro Leaf Tissues

Abstract

Periwinkle, a perennial commonly used as a summer bedding plant, is known as the source of vinca alkaloids used to treat lymphocytic leukemia and Hodgkin's disease. It is also one of the natural hosts of many phytoplasma diseases, such as X-disease of major Prunus species, aster yellows, and ash yellows diseases. Therefore, periwinkle is an ideal plant species for phytoplasma disease research, such as disease transmission, species resistance, and resistant gene screening. Periwinkle tissue culture was established by incubating sterile seeds in hormone-free Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Plants were successfully regenerated from in vitro leaf tissues of periwinkle. Adventitious shoots were induced when leaf tissues were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium or woody plant medium (WPM) supplemented with benzyladenine (BA) and naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). Nearly 75% of leaf explants produced shoots in both media with 10–20 μm BA and 1 μm NAA. A mean of 4.3 shoots was produced from each explant cultured on WPM, whereas only 2 shoots were produced on MS medium under 16-h photoperiod. Leaf explants under dark treatment for 2 weeks produced big callus only, indicating that light is necessary for shoot formation. Most adventitious shoots were induced from the joint of leaf blade and petiole. In vitro shoots (>1.5 cm) were easily rooted in half-strength MS medium. Addition of NAA dramatically increased root number, with more than 20 roots being induced in 5 μm NAA medium. Rooted plants were transferred to potting medium and grown in a greenhouse.