Protocol for Inducing Flower Color Somaclonal Variation in Torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind.)

Abstract

White or light purple flower color Torenia (Torenia fournieri Lind.) varieties were successfully developed from the parental variety having violet flowers. This was accomplished by reducing Fe micronutrient in the culture media for the induction of in vitro flowering. The flower induction was highest in modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing ½ strength of macroelements, microelements, organic additives, and full Fe (M1) when compared to MS medium containing ½ strength of macronutrients, micronutrients, full Fe, and full organic additives (M2). The flower color was stable in two new Torenia varieties through three generations ex vitro. The results showed a wide range of somaclonal variation in flower colors; early flowering occurred in MS medium containing ½ strength of macroelements, microelements, Fe, and full strength of organic additives (M3). The selection of desirable somaclones and their micropropagation in subsequent generations led to the development of new and stable Torenia lines.

Somaclonal variations and their applications in horticultural crops improvement

“…A wide variety of tools are available for the detection and characterization of somaclonal variants which are primarily based on the differences in morphological traits (Pérez et al 2009, 2011; Nhut et al 2013), cytogenetical analysis for the determination of numerical and structural variation in the chromosomes (Clarindo et al 2012; Currais et al 2013; Abreu et al 2014), biochemical (Vujovic et al 2010; Kar et al 2014), molecular DNA markers (Krishna and Singh 2007; Pathak and Dhawan 2012; Hossain et al 2013; Bello-Bello et al 2014) or their combinations (Horáček et al 2013; Dey et al 2015; Stanišić et al 2015). The best test for assessing somaclonal variation is to fruit out the plants and conduct an extensive horticultural evaluation, which is unfortunately a long-term endeavor with woody fruit crops, particularly (Grosser et al 1996).…”

“…DNAP9Evans (1989)52Tulip ( Tulipa sp. )“Bs6”, selected from among the micropropagated plants of the cultivar ‘Blue Parrot’ with red-violet colored longer flower and stemPodwyszynska et al (2010)53Torenia ( Torenia fournieri )Flower color somaclonal variantsNhut et al (2013)54Turmeric ( Curcuma longa L.)High essential oil yielding somaclonesKar et al (2014)Turmeric somaclone resistant to  Fusarium oxysporum  f.sp. ZingiberiKuanar et al (2014)55Indian ginseng ( Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal)Withanolide (12-deoxywithastramonolide)-rich somaclonal variantRana et al (2012) …”

Plant Tissue Culture

“…Later on it was discovered that transition of vegetative shoot apical meristem to inflorescence meristem occurs when young protocorms were cultured in modified Knudson C liquid medium [43]. This medium successfully induced early flowering and flower color was found to be stable in two new Torenia varieties through three generations ex vitro [45]. 1.43 × 10 4 Da had the highest positive effect in the growth of flower plants, namely Limonium, Lisianthus, and Chrysanthemum [44].…”