Transposons or transposable elements (also called jumping genes) are mobile DNA seg- ments that can move around in the genome and get inserted into coding regions and modify gene expression. It has been suggested that tissue culture stress can activate the previously silent transposable elements and cause somaclonal variation (Hirochika et al. 1996).
Activation of maize transposable elements in vitro has been reported more than once. The maize plants regenerated from tissue cultures were found to contain an active Ac element, whereas none had been detected in the initial explants (Evola et al. 1985; Peschke et al. 1987; Phillips et al. 1990). Evola et al. (1984) had earlier observed activation of Spn (En) element in half of the regenerated plants of maize. More than 20 % of the alfalfa plants regenerated from tissue cultures of a white flowered somaclone exhibited the wild-type purple flowered pheno- type (Groose and Bingham 1986). Genetic analysis indicated that while the wild type and mutated alleles were stable and sexually trans- mitted the culture process appeared to trigger reversion, suggesting the involvement of trans- posable elements.
12.6
Applications
Somaclonal variability can be regarded as an efficient tool for breeders to create new plant varieties. Somaclonal variation can provide genotypes that can be directly used as new improved cultivars or as additional genetic var- iability suitable for combining with the
conventional breeding methods to accelerate the process of creating new superior varieties. Somaclonal variation occurs for traits of both nuclear and cytoplasmic origin.
Tissue culture-induced variation does not have the socioethical hurdle like GM crops. Moreover, it does not require sophisticated technologies nor has significant technology ownership issue that has become problematic with genetic engineering. Further, genetic engineering has been largely successful with herbaceous species and has still not been com- mercialized in perennial woody species. Some examples of useful somaclones selected to develop new improved varieties or genotypes of crop plants are described in this section.
12.6.1 Sugarcane
The potential use of somaclonal variation in crop improvement was first demonstrated in sugar- cane (Heinz et al. 1977). Plants regenerated from calli of sugarcane exhibit marked phenotypic and genotypic variation, such as cane yield, til- lering, fiber content and numerous fine mor- phological features. Nickell and his co-workers in Hawaii and Krishnamurthi and his associates in Fiji isolated, through tissue culture, several subclones of well-established local cultivars which showed resistance to eyespot disease (caused by Helminthosporium sacchari) and, Fiji disease (caused by an aphid transmitted virus) and downy mildew (caused by Scleros- pora sacchari).
Krishnamurthi (1974) and Krishnamurthi and Tlaskal (1974) isolated several somaclones of the sugarcane cultivar Pindar resistant to Fiji disease. While most of the resistant clones gave poor yield, the clone Pindar 70-31, which was also resistant to downy mildew, performed as well or even better than the parent cultivar which was highly susceptible to Fiji disease. The disease resistance of the somaclone was main- tained through several cane generations in the field. The somaclone Pindar 70-31 was released as a new cultivar (see Daub 1986).
Doule (2006) identified several somaclones of sugarcane for higher cane yield, sugar content and millable quality. From the plants regener- ated from four-subculture-old leaf callus of the Indian cv. CoC671, Jalata et al. (2006) released an improved variety of sugarcane (Co 94012). It is an early, high sugar and high yielding variety with high CCS yield.
12.6.2 Banana
Banana and plantain (Musa sp.) are the fourth most important crop of the world. Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating fungal pathogen affecting banana plantations. Sexual breeding of banana for resistance to Fusarium wilt is ham- pered because of its triploid and sterile nature and the production of parthenocarpic fruits, besides being a vegetatively propagated crop. Although in nature, the vegetatively propagated population is genetically stable the micropropa- gated plants from shoot tips exhibit 3 % varia- tion. Somaclonal variations have been observed for height, variegated leaves, reduced lamina, early flowering, disease resistance and so on. Taiwan Banana Institute obtained many useful somaclones from the major local cultivar Giant Cavendish (Hwang and Ko 2004), which showed resistance to Fusarium wilt and was also high yielding. It has been claimed that release of the somaclone ‘‘Tai Chiao No.1’’ for commer- cial planting in 1990 saved Taiwan banana industry from destruction by Fusarium wilt.
Hwang and Ko (2004) planted about 20,000 in vitro propagated plants of Giant Cavendish in pathogen infested nursery with a titer of 300–1,000 propagules of F. oxysporum per gram of the soil. After 1 year 28 clones survived. Cleaned suckers from all the surviving clones were replanted in the disease nursery. Six of these clones survived and remained healthy after 1 year. Plants from second- and third-generation suckers from the six resistant clones maintained high resistance to the pathogenic fungus as compared to the parent cultivar. Large number
of plants raised in vitro from the six resistant clones were inferior with regard to the horticultural traits such as excessive height, week petiole, lengthened growth period, and inferior fruit quality. In subsequent generations, some of the vegetatively multiplied plants of the resistant clones showed improved fruit quality but none of them were suitable for commercial planting. However, through a similar experiment with the suckers of in vitro raised Giant Cavendish plants from different locations in Taiwan a clone (GCT CV-215-1) with high resistance to Fusarium wilt was isolated and released as cv. Tai Chiao No. 1 in 1990. This somaclonal cultivar was not only resistant to Fusarium but also produced fruit bunches with same number of hands and fingers as Giant Cavendish, although its fruit bunches were slightly lighter because of short and slender fingers as compared to the parent cultivar. However, its fruit was acceptable not only locally but also in Japan. A serious drawback of this cultivar was that the mature plants were taller and slender than the Giant Cavendish, and therefore susceptible to breakage by wind during typhoon season. It also has a longer crop life. Therefore, search for a better clone continued. Another somaclone (GCT CV-218) was selected from in vitro raised plants, which, besides being equally resistant to Fusarium wilt, surpassed in many horticultural traits such as robust pseudo- stem, stronger petiole, thicker leaves, better hand formation, and more uniform hand size. Above all, the fruit bunches of this somaclone were 50 % heavier than the Giant Cavendish (Fig.12.2). This somaclone became very popu- lar and rapidly replaced the cv. Tai Chiao No. 1 for commercial planting. It was released as cv. Formosana, in 2002.
Trujillo and García (1996) reported the selection of a tetraploid somaclone (CIEN BTA- 03) of banana resistant to YS disease through adventitious bud regeneration from sucker shoot tip cultures of the triploid cv. Williams suscep- tible to the YS disease. The resistance was maintained over 5 years of asexual reproduction.
12.6.3 Geranium
This ornamental plant is traditionally propagated from leaf cuttings. Skirvin and Janick (1976) compared the plant populations raised from root, stem, and petiole cuttings in vivo and those differentiated from their calli. Whereas the plants from in vivo stem cuttings were uniform, those from in vivo root and petiole cuttings and from callus were quite variable. They released a new scented variety ‘Velvet Rose’ from a calli- clone obtained from the cv. ‘Rober’s Lemon Rose’ (Skirvin and Janick 1976). The new cul- tivar had double the number of chromosomes of the parent and was selected for its general attractiveness and vigor.
12.6.4 Potato
Being highly heterozygous and sexually sterile, most of the popular cultivars of potato are not readily amenable to conventional breeding. In this regard, somaclonal variation is of special significance for this important crop plant.
Somaclones of potato have been selected for improved foliar characters, tuber number and shape, starch content, earliness, and disease resistance. Many of the traits were stable through potato generation in the field. The degree of variation depends not only on the procedure used to regenerate plants but also on the genotype and specific characters of the donor plants (Thieme and Griess2005).
Shepard et al. (1980) screened 2,500 plants regenerated from the protoplasts of potato cv. Russet Burbank and identified about 60 proto- clones with stable improved agronomic traits, including resistance to late blight (caused by Phytophthera infestans) and early blight (caused by Alternaria solani). Gunn and Day (1986) reported protoclones of potato which had tuber yield equal to or better than the parent cultivar and were resistant to the common scab. Soma- clones of potato resistant to Potato Virus Y (PVY) and Potato Leaf Roll Virus have also been isolated (Thompson et al. 1986; Semal and Lepoivre 1990).
Due to difficulties in performing sexual crosses and because of the tetraploid nature of
Fig. 12.2 Comparison of parental cultivar of banana, Giant Cavendish (a) and its somaclone, Formosana (b) planted in a Fusarium oxysporum infested orchard,
along with their fruit bunches; c Giant Cavendish, d Formosana(after Hwang and Ko2004)
most of the potato cultivars no genetic analysis of potato somaclones have been made.
12.6.5 Rice
Several reports of the selection of somaclonal variants from somatic and gametic tissue cul- tures of rice have been published (Oono 1978; Chaleff 1980; Chen et al. 1980; Fukui 1983). Oono (1988) reported that in 72 % of the 762 regenerated lines that were screened variation were noted for such characters as seed viability, plant height, tillering and chlorophyll defi- ciency, and the somaclonal variants were stable through, at least, one seed generation. From a single callus formed in seed cultures of rice, Fukui (1983) raised 12 plants with 90 % fertil- ity. The progeny of these plants showed varia- tion for leaf color, early heading, albino, and short culm. The author has concluded that the mutation for the four traits occurred indepen- dently and successively.
Anther and pollen culture are good sources of variation. The pollen plants being haploid stable variants can be obtained in one generation. Schaeffer et al. (1984) obtained useful variants by selfing anther-derived plants of rice. Chinese scientists have produced new varieties of many cereals, including rice, through anther culture. Through a combination of anther culture and somatic tissue culture, Heszky and Kiss (1992) evolved an improved variety of rice ‘DAMA’. The Pollen Haploid Somaclone (PHS) method is summarized in Fig.12.3.
12.6.6 Mustard
Several species and types of Brassicas are important oilseed crops, vegetables, forage crops, and are used in the production of condi- ments. The oilseed Brassicas are found within Brassica juncea, Brassica carinata, Brassica rapa (syn. Brassica campestris), and Brassica napus and are collectively referred to as oilseed
Fig. 12.3 Diagrammatized summary of the Pollen Haploid Somaclonal method (PHS method) for increasing genetic variability in breeding material (after Heszky et al. 1989)
rape. George et al. (1987) reported yellow- seeded variants in the progeny of the plants regenerated from cotyledonary explants of B. juncea cv. TM-4. A large variation for all the characters evaluated were also observed in the R1progeny of plants regenerated from cotyledon
callus of B. juncea cv. Prakash by Jain et al. (1989). Some of the plants also showed signifi- cantly higher yield and other improved agricul- turally important characteristics compared with the control. Somaclonal variation led to the selection of a dwarf mutant and true breeding lines in the R2generation.
Nehnevajova et al. (2007) regenerated plants from in vitro selected metal (Cd, Cu, Pb) tolerant callus lines of B. juncea and found that 7 out of the 30 individuals extracted significantly higher amounts of metals than the control plants. Such lines could be useful for phytoremediation of toxic metals.
A somaclone of B. juncea cv. Varuna, called Pusa Jai Kisan (BIO 902), was released for commercial cultivation in 1994 (Katiyar and Chopra1995). It was regenerated from seedling callus. The new cultivar is an improvement over the earlier ones in terms of higher yield (20 %), early maturity (6–8 days) and seed boldness. It has become immensely popular among farmers even in the zones for which it was not recommended.
12.6.7 Tomato
Somaclonal variants of tomato for several characters, such as fruit color, plant architecture, and characters for mechanical harvesting, have been isolated by Evans and Sharp (1983; see also Evans et al. 1984; Evans and Bravo 1986). Detailed genetic analysis of these variants revealed that stable genetic changes were caused by single gene mutations, fruit color being recessive and Fusarium resistance a dominant trait. One of the somaclones of tomato, with very high (20 %) dry matter content and enhanced taste and better texture and color was registered
as a new variety by DNA Plant Technology Corp., USA (Evans 1989).
12.6.8 Finger Millet
Baer et al. (2007) screened 30 lines of regenerants from callus cultures of Finger millet (Eleusine caracana) of which the somaclone SE-7 was most promising due to the high yield of biomass and seeds, rapid and good seed germination at low temperatures (15 and 20°C) and early maturing (by 10–20 days) as compared to the parent plant. These changes were not associated with any detectable alteration in the number and mor- phology of chromosomes. It is regarded as a promising somaclone to select a new cultivar of finger millet.
12.7
Concluding Remarks
Plant tissue cultures exhibit considerable varia- tions in their morphology, growth rate and regeneration potential, which increase with the age of the culture. It is the combined effect of the pre-existing aberrant cells within the explant used to initiate the cultures and the changes induced by the culture environment. Many tis- sues which exhibit good regeneration of plants in the initial stages of culture lose this mor- phogenetic potential at a later stage. In cereals, irrespective of the nature of the explant, two types of calli are formed: (1) white, off-white, or pale yellow, compact and often nodular, and (2) soft, granular and translucent. Of these, only the first type of calli exhibit somatic embryogenesis. In successive cultures, the embryogenic calli continue to produce some amount of nonem- bryogenic calli. The loss of morphogenic potential in long-term cultures, a phenomenon of wide occurrence, could be due to altered hor- monal balance of the cells or their sensitivity to exogenous growth regulators. The cultured plant cells undergo varying degrees of cytological and genetic changes.
Appearance of off-types during in vitro mul- tiplication of horticultural and forest species, regeneration of plants from genetically engi- neered cells, or during industrial production of phytochemicals by cell culture is a serious lim- itation in the practical applications of plant tis- sue culture technique. Understanding the causes and the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of somaclonal variation has helped minimizing/ eliminating the appearance of aberrant types during micropropagation.
On the positive side, induced variation con- tinues to be the best option for the improvement of perennial crops, especially those propagated asexually. Somaclonal variation has proved to be an additional source of variation useful for modifying one or a few characters of a cultivar or genotype while preserving its genetically determined traits. Indeed, several superior cul- tivars of crop plants have been developed from the variability generated in tissue cultures. An added advantage of tissue culture variation is the selection of cell lines resistant to certain biotic and abiotic stresses with the economy of space and time. Some of the advantages and disad- vantages of somaclonal variation are listed in Table12.2.
Suggested Further Reading
Alwee SS, van der Linden CG, van der Schoot J, de Folter S, Angenent GC, Cheah SC, Smulders MJM (2006) Characterization of oil palm MADS box genes
in relation to the mantled flower abnormality. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 85:331–344
Baer GY, Yemets AI, Stadnichuk NA, Rakhmetov DB, Blume YB (2007) Somaclonal variability as a source for creation of new varieties of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.). Cytol Genet 41:204–208 Giménez C, García ED, De Enrech NX, Blanca I (2001)
Somaclonal variation in banana: cytogenetic and molecular characterization of the somaclonal variant CIEN BTA-03. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol - Plant 37: 217–222
Gostimsky SA, Kokaeva ZG, Konovalov FA (2005) Studying plant genome variation using molecular markers. Genetika 41:480–492
Hwang SC, Ko WH (2004) Cavendish banana cultivars resistant to Fusarium wilt acquired through somacl- onal variation. Plant Dis 88:580–588
Jalaja NC, Sreenivasan TV, Pawar SM, Bhoi PG, Garker RM (2006) Co 94012—a new sugarcane variety through somaclonal variation. Sugar Tech 8:132–136 Jaligot E, Rival A, Beulé T, Dussert S, Verdeil J-L (2000) Somaclonal variation in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.): the DNA methylation hypothesis. Plant Cell Rep 19:684–690
Katiyar RK, Chopra VL (1995) A somaclone of Brassica juncea is processed into a variety and is released for commercial cultivation in India. Cruciferae Newslett 17:92–93
Larkin P (2004) Somaclonal variation: origin and causes. In: Goodman RM (ed) Encyclopedia of plant and crop science. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp 1158–1161 Larkin PJ, Scowcroft WR (1981) Somaclonal variation: a
novel source of variability from cell cultures for plant improvement. Theor Appl Genet 60:197–214 Nehnevajova E, Herzig R, Erismann KH, Schwitzgu0ebel
JP (2007) In vitro breeding of Brassica juncea L. to enhance metal accumulation and extraction proper- ties. Plant Cell Rep 26:429–437
Olmos SE, Lavia G, Di Renzo M, Morginski L, Echenique V (2002) Genetic analysis of variation in micropropagated plants of Melia azedarach L. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol - Plant 38:617–622
Table 12.2 Advantages and disadvantages of somaclonal variation
S.No. Disadvantages Advantages
1. May not occur for complex agronomic traits Changes can occur in agronomically important traits
2. Many characters change in the opposite or negative direction
Changes occur at a high frequency 3. Variations are unpredictable in nature Some changes can be novel and may not be
achieved by conventional breeding 4. In vitro selected somaclones may not be genetically
stable
In vitro selection helps in isolation of lines tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses
5. Selected somaclones require extensive field testing In vitro selection shorten the time in somaclone isolation with desirable trait
6. Somaclones could be unstable due to DNA methylation and transposon elements
Large population of cells can be used for in vitro selection
Sahijram L, Soneji JR, Bollamma KT (2003) Analyzing somaclonal variation in micropropagated bananas (Musa spp.). In Vitro Cell Dev Biol - Plant 39: 551–556
Semal J (ed) (1986) Smaclonal variations and crop improvement. Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht
Thieme R, Griess H (2005) Somaclonal variation in tuber traits of potato. Potato Res 48:153–165
13
In Vitro Pollination and Fertilization
13.1
Introduction
In angiosperms, the female gamete (egg) is formed and remains fixed at the micropylar end of the embryo sac deeply embedded in the sporophytic tissues of the ovule, which is enclosed in the ovary well removed from the stigma. The male gametes (sperms) are enclosed in the pollen grain. To effect fertilization, the pollen germinate on the stigma to form a pollen tube that transports the two non-motile sperms to the embryo sac and delivers them in the vicinity of the egg. Whereas one of the sperms fertilizes the egg (syngamy), the other fertilizes the cen- tral cell (triple fusion). The fertilized egg (zygote) develops into an embryo, the progenitor of the next generation, and the fertilized central cell forms the endosperm tissue, the main source of nutrition for the developing and germinating embryo. Thus, in the angiosperms, the gametes, the process of double fertilization, zygote, early stages of embryo and endosperm development are not readily accessible to study the cellular and molecular aspects of fertilization and embryogenesis. Therefore, for almost 100 years since the discovery of double fertilization in angiosperms, by Nawaschin (1898), not much progress could be made in this area. Whatever little information is known is based mainly on mutant analysis in Arabidopsis.