Plant Regeneration from Suspension Cultures of Onion (Allium cepa L.)

Abstract

An efficient method for plant regeneration from suspension cultures of onion was studied. For callus induction, sterilized seeds were inoculated on solid MS medium supplemented with 50μM 4-FPA, 1μM 2iP, 1g/l casein hydrolysate and 0.1M sucrose. For suspension culture, callus was mechanically disaggregated and transferred into liquid MS medium with 10mM MES added, and placed on a rotary shaker. Suspension cultures were routinely subcultured. After pre-culture in liquid medium which increased sucrose concentration to 0.2M, two types of cell clumps developed, a deep yellow, small type, and a light yellow, large type. The large type showed higher regenerative ability than the small type. Frequent regeneration of plantlets occurred on solid MS medium supplemented with 1-5μM 2iP. Regenerated plantlets developed to whole plants.