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Title: GENEBANKING OF VEGETATIVELY-PROPAGATED CROPS – CRYOPRESERVATION OF FORTY-FOUR MENTHA ACCESSIONS.

Author
item Staats, Elise
item TOWILL, LEIGH - ARS RETIRED
item LAUFMANN, JULIE - FOREST SERVICE
item Reed, Barbara
item Ellis, David

Submitted to: Cryobiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/25/2006
Publication Date: 6/3/2006
Citation: Staats, E.R., Towill, L., Laufmann, J., Reed, B.M., Ellis, D.D. 2006. Genebanking of vegetatively-propagated crops – cryopreservation of forty-four mentha accessions. Cryobiology. Society For In Vitro Biology June 3, 2006, Minneapolis, MN.

Interpretive Summary: Many valuable crop genetic resources are vegetatively propagated and preservation of these plants is usually done in field plantings that are susceptible to countless biotic and abiotic risks. Cryopreservation of back-up shoot tips in liquid nitrogen (-320 F) is one option to reduce the risk of losing these valuable plants. A difficulty in cryopreservation of genetic resource collections is the large number and diversity within plant species. Mint (Mentha) offers a good example of a genus where cryopreservation has been successful for genetic resource preservation. Forty-six accessions from more than 20 Mentha species were included in this study. Forty-four mint genotypes (96%) were successfully stored in liquid nitrogen at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation with at least 60 viable shoot tips and a minimum viability of 40% for stored shoot tips per accession. Three cryopreservation techniques were needed for the successful cryopreservation of these Mentha accessions. Initially fast cooling (vitrification) without cold pretreatment was used successfully with 30 accessions (64%). The remaining accessions were cold treated prior to vitrification and an additional 9 (20%) were successfully stored. Encapsulation of the shoot tips in a gel bead and air dehydration before cryopreservation was successful for 5 (11%) of the remaining accessions. Two accessions (4%) did not respond favorably to any of the techniques tested. These results highlight the fact that diverse plant genotypes can be successfully cryopreserved through flexibility in the methods used.

Technical Abstract: Many valuable crop genetic resources are vegetatively propagated and preservation of these resources is usually done in field plantings that are susceptible to countless biotic and abiotic risks. Cryopreserved shoot tips are one option to reduce risks of losing this valuable vegetatively-propagated germplasm. A difficulty in cryopreservation of genetic resource collections is the large number of genotypes involved. Mentha offers a good example of what could potentially be expected from a cryopreservation program of a given genus. Forty-six accessions from more than 20 Mentha species were included in this study. Forty-four accessions (96%) were successfully stored in liquid nitrogen (at least 60 viable shoot tips and overall viability of 40% for stored shoot tips per accession) at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation. Three methods were needed for the successful cryopreservation of these Mentha accessions. Initially PVS2 vitrification without cold acclimation was used and was successful with 30 accessions (64%). The remaining accessions were cold acclimated prior to PVS2 vitrification and an additional 9 (20%) were successfully stored. Encapsulation-dehydration of the remaining accessions was successful for 5 additional accessions (11%) Two accessions (4%) did not respond favorably to any of the cryopreservation methods tested. These results highlight the fact that diverse genotypes can be adapted to cryopreservation yet flexibility in the methods used is critical due to differential genotypic response.