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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » National Clonal Germplasm Repository » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #76968
Title: MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR ANALYSIS OF GENETIC STABILITY IN MICROPROPAGATED FRAGARIA X ANNANASA CULTIVAR'POCAHONTAS'

Author
item KUMAR, MOHAN - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
item Barker, Reed
item Reed, Barbara

Submitted to: In Vitro Plant
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/17/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The genetic composition of plants grown in tissue culture may change depending on the growth conditions. This study looked at the DNA composition of strawberry plants grown in tissue culture on a specific plant growth regulator (benzyladenine, BA) and at plants stored as tissue cultures at refrigerator temperatures for several years. Plants from each treatment were also grown in the field to examine the plant structure. Mos characteristics did not vary for plants grown on different concentrations of BA. Cold-stored plants were less vigorous than the BA treated plants. Differences in growth habit were transient and were not caused by DNA mutat ions. No genetic changes were noted in the DNA analysis. This study indicates that neither the BA treatment nor the cold storage appeared to cause genetic variation in the tissue culture grown plants.

Technical Abstract: Micropropagated Fragaria x annanasa 'Pocahontas' plants stored at 4oC for over 4 years were compared with pot-grown mother plants to study the effect of cold storage. Five 'Pocahontas' explants were initiated into tissue culture, multiplied & later grown on medium with 2 different BA concentrations for 7 months to study the effects of BA. No indication of mutation was detected in over 200 loci amplified by 29 of 30 Operon primer tested. One primer, OPF-18 (TTCCCGGGTT), generated inconsistent polymorphism which was random and did not correlate with any treatments. Possible changes in methylation patterns of rRNA genes of strawberries were examined. Changes in methylation patterns were observed in one sample from plants grown on 15 uMBA medium & in one of the cold-stored plants. Length polymorphism was observed in 2 samples from plantlets derived from one explant. Plants from each BA & cold-stored treatment were grown in the field to examine morphological variation. Most of the morphological characteristics did not differ for field grown plants micropropagated on 5 uM & 15 uMBA medium, but cold-stored plants were less vigorous both vegetatively & reproductively than BA-treated plants. Differences in morphological characteristics appeared to be epigenetic in nature & were not indicative that mutations had occurred. Neither BA treatment nor cold storage per se appeared to be a cause of somaclonal variation.