Chromosome Doubling in <i>Limonium bellidifolium</i> (Gouan) Dumort. by Colchicine Treatment of Seeds

Abstract

Limonium bellidifolium (2n = 2x = 18), a perennial statice belonging to the family Plumbaginaceae, is cultivated as a garden plant or for cut flowers and is an important breeding material for the production of hybrid cultivars in the genus. In this study, chromosome doubling in L. bellidifolium was attempted to increase the variability in horticultural traits. Seeds of this species were treated with an antimitotic agent, colchicine, at different concentrations and exposure periods. The treated seeds were sown in soil in a cell tray and the seedlings were grown in a greenhouse. More than 50% of the seedlings treated with colchicine for 24 or 48 h, irrespective of the concentration, survived for 4 months after treatment. Most of the seedlings treated for 72 h at any concentration showed very poor growth and abnormal thickening of the hypocotyl, and ultimately died. The surviving seedlings were grown in 9-cm pots. Flow cytometry analysis of leaf tissues showed that 2.5%-5% of plants that received 0.05% colchicine for 72 h, 0.25% colchicine for 24 h, 0.25% colchicine for 48 h, or 0.5% colchicine for 48 h were tetraploid (4x) or mixoploid (2x + 4x). The highest frequencies of tetraploids and mixoploids occurred following treatment with 0.05% colchicine for 72 h. These results showed that colchicine treatment of seeds is effective for chromosome doubling in L. bellidifolium. After 3 years of cultivation, the morphological characteristics of diploid and tetraploid L. bellidifolium plants at the flowering stage were investigated. The stomatal density was lower in all investigated tetraploid and mixoploid plants than in the control diploid plant. The stomatal length was 1.1-to 1.5-fold higher in all tetraploid and mixoploid plants than in the control. Tetraploid plants tended to have wider and thicker leaves than the control and also produced larger flowers.

Haploid Culture and Double Haploid Induction in Medicago sativa L. cv. XinJiangDaYe

“…The callus induction rate of the three explants decreased with the increase of colchicine concentration, DMSO concentration and treatment time. These results are consistent with the results from studies on Miscanthus and Limonium bellidifolium (Mori et al, 2016;Katarzyna et al, 2010). After liquid treatment, the callus induction rate of the three explants was reduced by 51.99 to 88.90%.…”

Artificial Chromosome Doubling in Allotetraploid Calendula officinalis

“…Indeed, first observations in the leaf cross-sections show that leaves are thicker and cell size increases in octaploid plants. This phenomenon has been reported also in other polyploid plants, such as (4x, 6x, and 8x) Arabidopsis thaliana (Corneillie et al, 2019), tetraploid plants of Juncus effucus (Xu et al, 2010), and Limonium bellidifolium (Mori et al, 2016). This affects plant growth and production of secondary metabolites.…”

“…Polyploidy has an effect on biosynthesis pathways and gene expression (Dhooghe et al, 2010;Sattler et al, 2016;Salma et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2018). Polyploids may have bigger inflorescences, larger and thicker leaves and stems, larger pollen, a higher biomass, higher concentration of secondary metabolites, and better tolerance to environmental stress (Mori et al, 2016;Li et al, 2018;Luo et al, 2018;Eng and Ho, 2019). Polyploidy has led to an increase in secondary metabolites in medicinal plants in two ways: first, by the increase of biomass in chromosome doubled plants, and second, by the increase in number of gene copies related to the pathways of the secondary metabolites.…”

Studies on Colchicine Induced Chromosome Doubling for Enhancement of Quality Traits in Ornamental Plants

“…This “gigas effect” is mostly observed in different plant organs of commercial interests such as leaves, seeds and flowers [79]. Doubling through colchicine caused an increase in number of leaves, number of branches, plant height and stem length in salvia ( Salvia coccinea cv Coral Nymph) [42], jasmine tobacco ( Nicotiana alata ) [43], selfheal ( Prunella vulgaris ) [48], lily ( Lilium ) [41], chaste tree ( Vitex agnus castus ) [12], orchid ( Dendrobium nobile ) [40], ornamental ginger [80], crape myrtle ( Lagerstroemia indica ) [62], calendula ( Calendula officinalis ) [28], matted sea-lavender ( Limonium bellidifolium ) [53], white orchid tree ( Bauhinia acuminate ) [55] and London plane ( Planatus acerifolius ) [71]. Induced polyploidy also increased the leaf color in balsam ( Impatiens balsamina ), [73], self-heal ( Prunella vulgaris ) [48], wishbone flower ( Torenia fournieri ) [46], marigold ( Tagates erecta ) [63], chaste tree ( Vitex agnus castus ) [12] and chrysanthemum ( Dendranthema grandiflora ) [78], along with increasing their leaf area as well.…”

“…Gizela produced burnt margins [72]. Similarly, colchicine treatment produced more flowering with large stigma in jasmine tobacco ( Nicotiana alata ) [43], larger flower height with increased lip width in wishbone flower ( Torenia fournieri) [46] increased the number of petals in garden balsam ( Impatiens balsamina ) [73] and increased flower diameter up to 1.2–1.3 folds in tetraploid plants of matted sea-lavender ( Limonium bellidifolium ) as compared to its diploid plants [53]. Colchi-tetraploids of chrysanthemum ( Chrysanthemum carinatum ) had larger flowers with thicker petals that helped to improve their vase life [66].…”