Abstract
Various explants from 30-day-old seedlings of <em>Centaurium erythraea </em>Rafn were evaluated for their morphogenetic capacity under in vitro culture conditions. Shoot formation from shoot tip explants was achieved mainly through adventitious bud differentiation. The highest number of shoots (up to 43.3 ± 2.2 from a single shoot tip) was obtained on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) supplemented with indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) (0.57 μM) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) (4.4 μM). Adventitious shoot regeneration was also achieved through organogenesis from calluses obtained from hypocotyls, cotyledons, roots and leaves on MS medium containing IAA (2.85 μM) and BAP (0.88 μM). Significant differences were noted between explant types in their effects on shoot regeneration. In the primary culture, the best response was obtained either from calluses derived from roots or leaves (44.4 ± 4.5 and 40.2 ± 6.0 shoots per callus, respectively). The number of subcultures of inoculated calluses affected both the multiplication rate (the number of shoots/explant) and shoot morphology (the frequency of shoot hyperhydricity). Shoots rooted with the frequency of 94-100% after culture on MS medium without growth regulators. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized (97%) under high relative humidity and then moved to the greenhouse.
Highlights
Centaurium erythraea Rafn (Gentianaceae) is a biennial species occurring naturally all over Europe to Southern Scandinavia as well as in Asia
The main group of medicinally important constituents of C. erythraea are bitter secoiridoid glucosides (Van der Sluis 1985b), which are used in preparation of some commercial beverages (Vágnerova 1992)
In this paper we report for the first time our success in developing plants from shoot tip explants
Summary
Centaurium erythraea Rafn (Gentianaceae) is a biennial species occurring naturally all over Europe to Southern Scandinavia as well as in Asia. The main group of medicinally important constituents of C. erythraea are bitter secoiridoid glucosides (gentiopicrin, erytaurin, swertiamarine, sweroside) (Van der Sluis 1985b), which are used in preparation of some commercial beverages (Vágnerova 1992). This plant species has attracted attention as a source of xanthones, compounds possessing various pharmacological properties (Menkoviæ et al 2000). Erythraea is listed as an endangered plant species (Holub et al 1979) For these reasons an efficient micropropagation procedure would be useful for conservation of this threatened species and to ensure the supply of crude drugs from the herb. The obtained results can lead to an improvement in efficiency of the previously published culture systems for micropropagation of C. erythraea
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