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Title: Dormant bud preservation for germplasm conservation

Author
item Jenderek, Maria
item Ambruzs, Barbara - Bobbie Ambruzs
item Postman, Joseph
item Ellis, David

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2010
Publication Date: 6/6/2010
Citation: Jenderek, M.M., Ambruzs, B.D., Postman, J.D., Ellis, D.D. 2010. Dormant bud preservation for germplasm conservation. Meeting Abstract. 12th International Association for Plant Biotechnology, St. Louis, Missouri, June 6-11, 2010. pp 53.

Interpretive Summary: The suitability of dormant buds (DB) for cryopreservation of different plant species has been demonstrated in several reports. For the majority of the species, processing DB for long-term liquid nitrogen storage does not involve establishing tissue cultures and the time for growing out post-cryo material to usable plants is much shorter than growing plants from cryopreserved shoot tips. Pre-cryo preparation of DB does not require aseptic conditions and takes less time than tissue culture; hence thousands of accessions may be processed in a single season. These factors are major advantages of using DB for cryopreservation of germplasm. One difficulty of using DB is the post-cryo viability testing. Viability is determined by grafting of the cryo’ed buds on rootstocks, and the outcome is highly dependent on the grafter skills, and together with the rootstock quality can add to the variability of the process. Another limitation is the DB applicability only for woody and semi-woody accessions and the highest chance of post-cryo survival are from plants of temperate and cold zones origin. Among known species, for which DB are used in routine germplasm cryopreservation are Malus, Prunus cerasus, and Allium sativum. Currently, our laboratory is actively researching the possibility of using DB in cryopreservation of Juglans regia, J. cinerea, P. avium, P. armeniaca and P. dulcis, and protocols for long-term DB conservation of butternut and walnut are near completion.

Technical Abstract: The suitability of dormant buds (DB) for cryopreservation of different plant species has been demonstrated in several reports. For the majority of the species, processing DB for long-term liquid nitrogen storage does not involve establishing tissue cultures and the time for growing out post-cryo material to usable plants is much shorter than growing plants from cryopreserved shoot tips. Pre-cryo preparation of DB does not require aseptic conditions and takes less time than tissue culture; hence thousands of accessions may be processed in a single season. These factors are major advantages of using DB for cryopreservation of germplasm. One difficulty of using DB is the post-cryo viability testing. Viability is determined by grafting of the cryo’ed buds on rootstocks, and the outcome is highly dependent on the grafter skills, and together with the rootstock quality can add to the variability of the process. Another limitation is the DB applicability only for woody and semi-woody accessions and the highest chance of post-cryo survival are from plants of temperate and cold zones origin. Among known species, for which DB are used in routine germplasm cryopreservation are Malus, Prunus cerasus, and Allium sativum. Currently, our laboratory is actively researching the possibility of using DB in cryopreservation of Juglans regia, J. cinerea, P. avium, P. armeniaca and P. dulcis, and protocols for long-term DB conservation of butternut and walnut are near completion.