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Title: A CRYOPRESERVATION PROTOCOL FOR EMBRYOS OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ZIZANIA TEXANA.

Author
item Walters, Christina
item Touchell, Darren
item POWER - USFWS
item WESLEY, SMITH - U NATAL,DURBAN SO AFRICA
item ANTOLIN, M - DEPT OF BIO. CSU

Submitted to: CryoLetters
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: WALTERS, C.T., TOUCHELL, D.H., POWER, .P., WESLEY, S.J., ANTOLIN, M.F. A CRYOPRESERVATION PROTOCOL FOR EMBRYOS OF THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ZIZANIA TEXANA.. CRYOLETTERS. 2002. 23:291-298

Interpretive Summary: Zizania texana is an endangered aquatic grass that is closely related to Zizania palustris, the species that is cultivated to produce gourmet wildrice. Preservation of the remaining genetic diversity of Z. texana is important to landmanagers, who wish to restore populations of the species to the San Marcos River, and to breeders, who wish to incorporate agronomically-important traits exhibited by Z. texana (perenniating habit, good amino acid complement, non-shattering seeds) into cultivated species. Previously, it was not possible to preserve seeds of this species in genebanks because the physiology of the seed was not amenable to cryopreservation. This paper reports a method to cryopreserve Z. texana embryos using solution-based cryoprotection.

Technical Abstract: Seeds of the endangered species Zizania texana are recalcitrant, making it difficult to preserve the remaining genetic diversity of this species in genebanks. Excised embryos can be cryopreserved using solution-based cryoprotection protocols. Survival following cryoexposure increased from less than 5% to about 75% by preculturing embryos in high concentrations of sugars, bathing them in cryoprotectant solutions, and partially drying them to water contents of about 0.6g H2O/g dry mass.