Abstract
Cryopreservation is considered an ideal strategy for the long-term preservation of plant genetic resources. Significant progress was achieved over the past several decades, resulting in the successful cryopreservation of the genetic resources of diverse plant species. Cryopreservation procedures often employ in vitro culture techniques and require the precise control of several steps, such as the excision of explants, preculture, osmo- and cryoprotection, dehydration, freeze-thaw cycle, unloading, and post-culture for the recovery of plants. These processes create a stressful environment and cause reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced oxidative stress, which is detrimental to the growth and regeneration of tissues and plants from cryopreserved tissues. ROS-induced oxidative stresses were documented to induce (epi)genetic and somatic variations. Therefore, the development of true-to-type regenerants of the source germplasm is of primary concern in the application of plant cryopreservation technology. The present article provides a comprehensive assessment of epigenetic and genetic integrity, metabolic stability, and field performance of cryopreserved plants developed in the past decade. Potential areas and the directions of future research in plant cryopreservation are also proposed.
Highlights
State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling District, Xianyang 712100, China
In contrast with the studies addressed above, no marked alternations in DNA methylation were found in the regenerants recovered from Quercus robur plumules cryopreserved by desiccation [73], Solanum tuberosum plants from shoot tips preserved with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-droplet method and cryo-stored for nearly 7 years [74], Wasabia japonica plants from vitrified shoot tips cryo-stored for 10 years [68], and Gentiana cruciata regenerants from embryogenic cell suspensions cryopreserved by encapsulation-dehydration [75]
The reversible epigenetic mechanism indicates that DNA methylation is temporary and plants can revert to normal DNA status when in vitro cryopreserved plants are established in the field conditions
Summary
Cryopreservation refers to the storage of biological samples, such as cells, tissues, and organs, in liquid nitrogen (LN) at extremely low temperatures, usually −196 ◦ C. The motive of initial studies was to establish cryopreservation methods for the long-term preservation of plant genetic resources [1,2]. The cryopreservation technology is considered an ideal strategy for the long-term preservation of plant genetic resources [3,4,5,6]. Cryopreservation was shown to maintain the transgenes in transformed materials, providing a safe and reliable strategy for the long-term preservation of transgenes [31,33,34]. These studies demonstrated the usefulness of cryobiotechnology in plant genetic engineering. Studies on cryopreservation of endangered and rare plant species are far behind those of horticultural species, ornamental plants, tuber crops, and forest species [6,15,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,41,42]
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