Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

Cacti species are plants that are well adapted to growing in arid and semiarid regions where the main problem is water availability. Cacti have developed a series of adaptations to cope with water scarcity, such as reduced leaf surface via morphological modifications including spines, cereous cuticles, extended root systems and stem tissue modifications to increase water storage, and crassulacean acid metabolism to reduce transpiration and water loss. Furthermore, seeds of these plants very often exhibit dormancy, a phenomenon that helps to prevent germination when the availability of water is reduced. In general, cactus species exhibit a low growth rate that makes their rapid propagation difficult. Cacti are much appreciated as ornamental plants due to their great variety and diversity of forms and their beautiful short-life flowers; however, due to difficulties in propagating them rapidly to meet market demand, they are very often over-collected in their natural habitats, which leads to numerous species being threatened, endangered or becoming extinct. Therefore, plant tissue culture techniques may facilitate their propagation over a shorter time period than conventional techniques used for commercial purposes; or may help to recover populations of endangered or threatened species for their re-introduction in the wild; or may also be of value to the preservation and conservation of the genetic resources of this important family. Herein we present the state-of-the-art of tissue culture techniques used for ornamental cacti and selected suggestions for solving a number of the problems faced by members of the Cactaceae family

Establishment of callus from Opuntia robusta Wendl., a wild and medicinal cactus, for phenolic compounds production

In this work, a protocol for the establishment of callus cultures from Opuntia robusta, a wild and medicinal cactus, was developed. The effects of plant growth regulators and culture media composition on callus development were evaluated.The best response was observed on Murashige and Skoog medium added with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, benzyladenine, biotin, casein hydrolysate and proline. The exposure of O. robusta callus to jasmonic acid increased 1.3-fold and 3-fold total phenolic acids and flavonoids concentration, respectively. The in vitro culture from O. robusta could be a new approach for the obtainment of metabolites with pharmaceutical and/or nutraceutical value.Keywords: Callus, flavonoids, jasmonic acid, wild Opuntia, phenolsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3204-320

Propagación in vitro de encinos mexicanos (Quercus spp.)

Con el fin de ofrecer una alternativa a los sistemas convencionales de propagación, se desarrolló un protocolo para la multiplicación in vitro de cuatro especies mexicanas deQuercus, las cuales son explotadas para la producción de madera y carbón y están actualmente amenazadas. Se describe la inducción de brotes múltiples a partir de embriones cigóticos deQuercus castanea,Q. eduardii,Q. resinosayQ. rugosacultivados en medio de Murashige y Skoo-genriquecido con 6-bencilaminopurina (BA) o cinetina. Los resultados mostraron que ambas citocininas afectaron la regeneración de brotes, donde la BA mostró la mayor efi ciencia. La mayor frecuencia de proliferación de brotes se observó enQ. castaneayQ. eduardii(91.7%), dando promedios de 6.3 y 6.5 brotes por explante al utilizar 3.0 y 4.0 mg l-1de BA, respectivamente. ParaQ. resinosa, la mejor respuesta fue obtenida con BA a 3.0 mg l-1produciendo 3.8 brotes por explante. Finalmente,Q. rugosaprodujo 3.6 brotes por explante con 1.0 mg l-1de BA. Los brotes fueron separados de las plántulas y transferidos a un medio basal a la mitad de su concentración enriquecido con 10.0 mg l-1de ac. indolbutírico por dos a cinco días, y luego transferidos a medio a la mitad de su concentración para su enraizamiento. Bajo estas condiciones, el 100, 100, 66.7 y 83.3% de los brotes deQ. castanea,Q. eduardii,Q. resinosayQ. rugosageneraron raíces, respectivamente. Las plántulas fueron aclimatadas a suelo en condiciones de invernadero de manera exitosa con frecuencias de sobrevivencia de 80% paraQ. castanea, 83.3% paraQ. eduardii, 73.3% paraQ. resinosa, y 70.0% paraQ. rugosa. Este método de propagación in vitro puede contribuir a la producción de plantas con fines de reforestación apoyando así la conservación y uso racional de estas especies

Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

Cacti species are plants that are well adapted to growing in arid and semiarid regions where the main problem is water availability. Cacti have developed a series of adaptations to cope with water scarcity, such as reduced leaf surface via morphological modifications including spines, cereous cuticles, extended root systems and stem tissue modifications to increase water storage, and crassulacean acid metabolism to reduce transpiration and water loss. Furthermore, seeds of these plants very often exhibit dormancy, a phenomenon that helps to prevent germination when the availability of water is reduced. In general, cactus species exhibit a low growth rate that makes their rapid propagation difficult. Cacti are much appreciated as ornamental plants due to their great variety and diversity of forms and their beautiful short-life flowers; however, due to difficulties in propagating them rapidly to meet market demand, they are very often over-collected in their natural habitats, which leads to numerous species being threatened, endangered or becoming extinct. Therefore, plant tissue culture techniques may facilitate their propagation over a shorter time period than conventional techniques used for commercial purposes; or may help to recover populations of endangered or threatened species for their re-introduction in the wild; or may also be of value to the preservation and conservation of the genetic resources of this important family. Herein we present the state-of-the-art of tissue culture techniques used for ornamental cacti and selected suggestions for solving a number of the problems faced by members of the Cactaceae family

Induction of in vitro roots cultures of Thypha latifolia and Scirpus americanus and study of their capacity to remove heavy metals

We have established the conditions to obtain in vitro root cultures of Thypha latifolia and Scirpus americanus and have investigated their capacity to remove Pb(II), Mn(II) and Cr(III) from the culture medium. The best conditions for the in vitro culture growth were: an inoculum of 0.2 g of T. latifolia roots and 0.05 g of S. americanus roots (fresh weight), Murashige-Skoog medium and 2 mg L-1of indolacetic acid. The T. latifolia and S. americanus root cultures were cultivated onto media containing Cr (15 μg L-1), Pb (60 μg L-1) or Mn (1.8 mg L-1). Both species were able to remove Pb and Cr near to 100% and 71-100% of Mn from the medium solution during the 6-8 days of experimentation. According to metal concentrations removed from the medium containing the growing root mass, the in vitro root culture of S. americanus can be considered as an accumulator for Pb (157.73 μg g-1), Cr (55.6 μg g-1) and Mn (5000 μg g-1)

Tissue culture of ornamental cacti

Cacti species are plants that are well adapted to growing in arid and semiarid regions where the main problem is water availability. Cacti have developed a series of adaptations to cope with water scarcity, such as reduced leaf surface via morphological modifications including spines, cereous cuticles, extended root systems and stem tissue modifications to increase water storage, and crassulacean acid metabolism to reduce transpiration and water loss. Furthermore, seeds of these plants very often exhibit dormancy, a phenomenon that helps to prevent germination when the availability of water is reduced. In general, cactus species exhibit a low growth rate that makes their rapid propagation difficult. Cacti are much appreciated as ornamental plants due to their great variety and diversity of forms and their beautiful short-life flowers; however, due to difficulties in propagating them rapidly to meet market demand, they are very often over-collected in their natural habitats, which leads to numerous species being threatened, endangered or becoming extinct. Therefore, plant tissue culture techniques may facilitate their propagation over a shorter time period than conventional techniques used for commercial purposes; or may help to recover populations of endangered or threatened species for their re-introduction in the wild; or may also be of value to the preservation and conservation of the genetic resources of this important family. Herein we present the state-of-the-art of tissue culture techniques used for ornamental cacti and selected suggestions for solving a number of the problems faced by members of the Cactaceae family

In vitro propagation of mexican oaks (Quercus spp.)

In order to provide an alternative to conventional propagation, a protocol was developed for the in vitro multiplication of four Mexican species of Quercus, which are exploited to produce timber and coal and are nowadays threatened. Multiple shoot induction from zygotic embryos of Quercus castanea, Q. eduardii, Q. resinosa and Q. rugosa cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 6-benzylamino-purine (BA) or kinetin is described. Results showed that both cytokinins affected shoot regeneration, where BA exhibited highest efficiency. Higher shoot proliferation frequency was observed in Q. castanea and Q. eduardii (91.7%), giving an average of 6.3 and 6.5 shoots per explant on medium with 3.0 and 4.0 mg 1-1 BA, respectively. For Q. resinosa, the best response was obtained with BA at 3.0 mg 1-1 producing 3.8 shoots per explant. Finally, Q. rugosa yielded 3.6 shoots per explant with 1.0 mg 1-1 BA. Shoots were excised from the seedlings and transferred to half-strength medium supplemented with 10.0 mg 1-1 indole-3-butyric acid for two or five days, and then transfer to half-strength medium for rooting. Under these conditions, 100, 100, 66.7 and 83.3% of the shoots of Q. castanea, Q. eduardii, Q. resinosa, and Q. rugosa generated roots, respectively. Plantlets were successfully acclimated to soil in greenhouse conditions with survival frequencies of 80% for Q. castanea, 83.3% for Q. eduardii, 73.3% for Q. resinosa, and 70.0% for Q. rugosa. This in vitro propagation method can contribute to the production of plants for reforestation thus supporting the conservation and rational use of these species.Con el fin de ofrecer una alternativa a los sistemas convencionales de propagación, se desarrolló un protocolo para la multiplicación in vitro de cuatro especies mexicanas de Quercus, las cuales son explotadas para la producción de madera y carbón y están actualmente amenazadas. Se describe la inducción de brotes múltiples a partir de embriones cigóticos de Quercus castanea, Q. eduardii, Q. resinosa and Q. rugosa cultivados en medio de Murashige y Skoog enriquecido con 6-bencilaminopurina (BA) o cinetina. Los resultados mostraron que ambas citocininas afectaron la regeneración de brotes, donde la BA mostró la mayor eficiencia. La mayor frecuencia de proliferación de brotes se observó en Q. castanea y Q. eduardii (91.7%), dando promedios de 6.3 y 6.5 brotes por explante al utilizar 3.0 y 4.0 mg 1-1 de BA, respectivamente. Para Q. resinosa, la mejor respuesta fue obtenida con BA a 3.0 mg 1-1 produciendo 3.8 brotes por explante. Finalmente, Q. rugosa produjo 3.6 brotes por explante con 1.0 mg 1-1 de BA. Los brotes fueron separados de las plántulas y transferidos a un medio basal a la mitad de su concentración enriquecido con 10.0 mg 1-1 de ac. indolbutírico por dos a cinco días, y luego transferidos a medio a la mitad de su concentración para su enraizamiento. Bajo estas condiciones, el 100, 100, 66.7 y 83.3% de los brotes de Q. castanea, Q. eduardii, Q. resinosa y Q. rugosa generaron raíces, respectivamente. Las plántulas fueron aclimatadas a suelo en condiciones de invernadero de manera exitosa con frecuencias de sobrevivencia de 80% para Q. castanea, 83.3% para Q. eduardii, 73.3% para Q. resinosa, y 70.0% para Q. rugosa. Este método de propagación in vitro puede contribuir a la producción de plantas con fines de reforestación apoyando así la conservación y uso racional de estas especies

Opuntia spp.: Characterization and Benefits in Chronic Diseases

Opuntia species have been used for centuries as food resources and in traditional folk medicine for their nutritional properties and their benefit in chronic diseases, particularly diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. These plants are largely distributed in America, Africa, and the Mediterranean basin. Opuntia spp. have great economic potential because they grow in arid and desert areas, and O. ficus-indica, the domesticated O. species, is used as a nutritional and pharmaceutical agent in various dietary and value-added products. Though differences in the phytochemical composition exist between wild and domesticated (O. ficus-indica) Opuntia spp., all Opuntia vegetatives (pear, roots, cladodes, seeds, and juice) exhibit beneficial properties mainly resulting from their high content in antioxidants (flavonoids, ascorbate), pigments (carotenoids, betalains), and phenolic acids. Other phytochemical components (biopeptides, soluble fibers) have been characterized and contribute to the medicinal properties of Opuntia spp. The biological properties of Opuntia spp. have been investigated on cellular and animal models and in clinical trials in humans, allowing characterization and clarification of the protective effect of Opuntia-enriched diets in chronic diseases. This review is an update on the phytochemical composition and biological properties of Opuntia spp. and their potential interest in medicine

Antiatherogenic and antitumoral properties of Opuntia cladodes: inhibition of low density lipoprotein oxidation by vascular cells, and protection against the cytotoxicity of lipid oxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal in a colorectal cancer cellular model

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