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Manipulation of conditions for the culture of somatic embryos of white spruce for improved triacylglycerol biosynthesis and desiccation tolerance

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Abstract

In order to enhance post-germinative vigour, somatic embryos of Picea glauca (Moench) Voss. were matured under in-vitro conditions that stimulated triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis. In P. glauca seeds over 90% of the TAG was stored within the megagametophyte, and isolated zygotic embryos contained twice the amount of TAG of somatic embryos cultured for four weeks on basal medium containing 16 μM abscisic acid (ABA). Polyethylene glycol-4000 (PEG) as a non-permeating osmoticum with ABA promoted TAG biosynthesis by somatic embryos and sustained maturation throughout an eight-week culture period. Treatments that promoted TAG biosynthesis also prevented precocious germination and promoted desiccation tolerance. Thus, the optimal culture conditions for maturation, desiccation survival, and plantlet regeneration were 16–24 μM ABA and 7.5% PEG for eight weeks, followed by desiccation. Under these conditions the levels of TAG per somatic embryo were raised ninefold to about five times the zygotic-embryo level, and the TAG fatty-acid composition became similar to that of zygotic embryos. A study of sectioned material, using light and transmission electron microscopy, showed that the structure and distribution of lipid bodies within these somatic embryos and the degree of embryo development were similar to mature zygotic embryos. Up to 81% of the desiccated somatic embryos regenerated to plantlets during which time the TAG was utilised in a manner similar to zygotic seedlings.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

abscisic acid

PEG:

polyethylene glycol

TAG:

triacylglycerol

TL:

total lipid

TEM:

transmission electron microscopy

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, S7N 0W0, Saskatoon, Sask, Canada

    S. M. Attree & L. C. Fowke

  2. Plant Research Centre, Agriculture Canada, K1A 0C6, Ottawa, Ont, Canada

    M. K. Pomeroy

Authors
  1. S. M. Attree
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  2. M. K. Pomeroy
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  3. L. C. Fowke
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Additional information

Plant Research Centre contribution No. 1383

We are grateful to Dawn Moore and Ken Stanley for technical assistance, and thank Pat Rennie for the electron microscopy. We acknowledge financial support through an NSERC/Forestry Canada/Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd (Prince Albert, Sask.) research partnership programme.

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Attree, S.M., Pomeroy, M.K. & Fowke, L.C. Manipulation of conditions for the culture of somatic embryos of white spruce for improved triacylglycerol biosynthesis and desiccation tolerance. Planta 187, 395–404 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195664

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00195664

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