Micropropagation of Yucca Species

Abstract

Yuccas are plants adapted to arid and semiarid regions and have been used as source of food and raw materials and for ornamental purposes. Lately, the interest in this genus has grown due to the presence of potential useful compounds such as saponins and polyphenolics. However, they present very low reproductive rates and virtually all the plants used are wild individuals; as consequence, their natural populations have been depleted. We present an efficient method to establish in vitro cultures of Yucca species starting with seeds and then obtaining shoots from the seedling meristems using cytokinins and auxins. These shoots can be rooted and transferred to soil or can be used as explants for another multiplication cycle. Hence, it is necessary to acquire seeds just once to establish a large-scale micropropagation protocol.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Phytochemicals Found in the Yucca Genus

“…Yucca species are native from North and Central America [ 8 ], and these plants are tolerant to drought, wind, and salt, which is why most of these species thrive in the arid zones of the USA and Mexico [ 9 ]. The genus is known for its obligate pollination mutualism with Yucca moths, where the moths provide Yucca with pollen while using the flower to oviposit [ 8 ]. Hybridization is common among species, which makes species classification difficult [ 10 ].…”

“…In particular, “The Plant List” establishes 49 species with an “accepted” status [ 11 ]. Although each species has each morphological characteristic, in general, they are long-lived perennials, tree-shaped, with white flowers, and sword-shaped leaves that grow in rosettes [ 8 ].…”

Callus induction and phytochemical profiling of Yucca carnerosana (Trel.) McKelvey obtained from in vitro cultures

“…The plants of Y. carnerosana were obtained from the in vitro germplasm bank of the Universidad Autónoma de Aguascalientes, México, and then micropropagated according to the method proposed by López-Ramírez et al (2018). For this, axillary buds of Y. carnerosana were sliced and cultivated in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) (pH 5.7, 30 g L −1 of sucrose and 10 g L −1 of agar as gelling agent).…”

“…This technique provides tools such as in vitro mass propagation, leading to greenhouse transfer, which has already been reported for Yucca spp. such as Yucca elephantipes (Pierik and Steegmans, 1983), Y. aloifolia (Atta-Alla and Van Staden, 1997), Yucca valida (Arce-Montoya et al, 2006), Yucca coahuilense, Y. filamentosa, and Y. periculosa (López-Ramírez et al, 2018). In this regard, the induction of callus tissue of Yucca spp.…”

“…has been applied for the regeneration of plants, as is the case of Yucca gloriosa (Durmishidze et al, 1983), and for the study of steroid substances during morphogenesis (Gogoberidze et al, 1992). To the best of our knowledge, information regarding the in vitro culture of Y. carnerosana is limited in the literature and refers to micropropagation of this species (López-Ramírez et al, 2018). Similarly, information regarding the phytochemical profile of Y. carnerosana is also limited in the literature; nevertheless, it has been proposed that the fruits and seeds contains sarsapogenin (Romo de Vivar, 1985).…”