Genetic stability of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) plants obtained during long-term clonal micropropagation

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the genetic stability of lavender cultivars during long-term clonal micropropagation using RAPD and ISSR markers. The material for the study was three lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) cultivars of the Crimean breeding - ‘Vdala', ‘Sineva', ‘Stepnaya'. The biological objects were the original donor plants (grown under controlled conditions), as well as microshoots after 6 and 16 subcultivations during in vitro propagation. We used two RAPD (OPA 10, OPO 13) and four ISSR primers (HB 13, HB 15, ISSR 1, ISSR 2, ISSR 3). It was not found significant differences on the number and length of shoots, the number of nodes on the shoot and the multiplication index after 6 and 16 subcultivations for all cultivars. According to the morphology, the microshoots of the three studied cultivars after different periods cultivation also did not differ from each other. Using 7 markers, we identified 62 loci. All primers used in the work were polymorphic (41.7...88.9%), and the amplification products reliably identified lavender cultivars. The length of the amplified fragments varied from 378 to 2177 base pairs. The microshoots, obtained using clonal micropropagation after 6 and 16 subcultivations, were identical in genetic profile to the original lavender cultivars. As a result, the possibility of long-term (at least 16 subcultivations) micropropagation of lavender was shown, while maintaining their genetic stability.