Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are an important group of multifunctional enzymes that belong to diverse multigene families. In plants these enzymes are involved in the detoxification of xenobiotic compounds, herbicide detoxification, and primary and secondary metaboplism and play an important role in plant growth and development. There are several reports that show that the expression of GST is linked to the developmental phases of somatic embryogenesis. This study highlights the detection of transcript abundances of glutathione S-transferase genes GST2 and GST3 in the process of somatic embryogenesis of Vitis vinifera, and the lack thereof in non-embryogenic tissue of leaf cultures of grape (control). These results indicate that the expression of GST2 and GST3 could be used as a molecular signal for the identification of embryogenic cultures during the early development of somatic embryos
