Abstract
Grewia asiatica is a dietotheraphtically important fruit bearing shrub, indigenous to India. It is a rich resource of triterpinoids and flavonoids and possesses many putative health benefits. Two of the drawbacks which include short shelf life of its fruits and larger seed volume impedes its full exploitation. Seed abortion for developing seedless cultivars through biotechnological interventions is a viable option. One of the prerequisites for such strategy is to develop an efficient plant regeneration and transformation protocols in G. asiatica. Against this backdrop multiple shoot induction was achieved from nodal explants with axillary buds, on culturing in Woody Plant medium (WM) fortified with 3% (w/v) sucrose, 2 × 10-5M Kinetin (Kn) and 1 × 10-5M indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) giving rise to an average of 4.25 ± 0.71 microshoots per explant. More than 90% of the explants formed micro-shoots with mean shoot length of 10.5 ± 1.96 cm leading to whole plant regeneration. Healthy regenerated shoots showed prolific rooting of more than 95% on WM supplemented with 4.8 × 10-6M indole-3-butyric acid (IBA). Following simple hardening procedures, rooted plantlets, were transferred to soil-sand (1:1; v/v) with about 92% success. Genetic fidelity was assessed using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Additionally, Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation protocol was developed using A. tumefaciens strain GV2260 harboring binary vector p35SGUSINT containing hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hpt). Transformation was verified by GUS assay and detection of the hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) by polymerase chain reaction. In vitro regeneration and ensuing molecular fidelity of regenerated plants and transformation studies are hitherto unreported for G. asiatica.
Highlights
Grewia asiatica L. (Malvaceae), commonly known as ‘Phalsa’ is a multipurpose gregarious shrub, found in tropical and sub-tropical parts of South East Asia [1]
The root bark is used in urinary tract problems and for the treatment of rheumatism, while the stem bark is used in sugar refining [17]
The present study demonstrates the applicability of genetically stable micropropagated plants of G. asiatica and entails development of an efficient genetic transformation protocol using A. tumifaciens
Summary
Grewia asiatica L. (Malvaceae), commonly known as ‘Phalsa’ is a multipurpose gregarious shrub, found in tropical and sub-tropical parts of South East Asia [1]. The major chemical constituents from various plant parts are flavonoids and terpenoids including grewinol, quercetin and naringenin from flowers; taraxasterol, β-sitosterol, erythrodiol, β- amyrin, lupeol, betulin lupenone, friedelin and α-amyrin from the bark [7,8,9]. These constituents have been found to bestow antioxidative [10], radioprotective [11] and many other putative health benefits [12,13,14,15]. The fruit is a small berry with stony seeds. Indigestion, thirst, toxemia, stomatitis, hiccough, asthma, spermatorrhoea, fever, diarrhoea, tuberculosis and sexual troubles are some other ailments where Phalsa fruits have been reported to be effective [11,20,21,22]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
