In vitro conservation of Dendrobium germplasm

• Published in: Plant cell reports 2014-09, Vol.33 (9), p.1413-1423
• Main Authors: Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A, Zeng, Songjun, Galdiano, Renato Fernandes, Jr, Dobránszki, Judit, Cardoso, Jean Carlos, Vendrame, Wagner A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: air drying; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; breeding; Cell Biology; collectors; Conservation of Natural Resources; container-grown plants; cost effectiveness; cryopreservation; Cryopreservation - methods; cut flowers; Dehydration; Dendrobium; floriculture; Genetic resources; germplasm; Hybrids; Indigenous species; Industrial crops; industry; Life Sciences; medicinal properties; Plant Biochemistry; plant genetic resources; Plant resources; Plant Sciences; Plant Shoots; Plant species; Pollen; Protoplasts; Review; Seeds; shoot primordia; somatic embryos; vitrification
• ISSN: 0721-7714; 1432-203X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00299-014-1631-6

Dendrobium is a large genus in the family Orchidaceae that exhibits vast diversity in floral characteristics, which is of considerable importance to orchid breeders, biotechnologists and collectors. Native species have high value as a result of their medicinal properties, while their hybrids are important as ornamental commodities, either as cut flowers or potted plants and are thus veritable industrial crops. Thus, preservation of Dendrobium germplasm is valuable for species conservation, breeding programs and the floriculture industry. Cryopreservation represents the only safe, efficient and cost-effective long-term storage option to facilitate the conservation of genetic resources of plant species. This review highlights 16 years of literature related to the preservation of Dendrobium germplasm and comprises the most comprehensive assessment of thorough studies performed to date, which shows reliable and reproducible results. Air-drying, encapsulation–dehydration, encapsulation–vitrification, vitrification and droplet-vitrification are the current cryopreservation methodologies that have been used to cryopreserve Dendrobium germplasm. Mature seeds, pollen, protoplasts, shoot primordia, protocorms and somatic embryos or protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) have been cryopreserved with different levels of success. Encapsulation–vitrification and encapsulation–dehydration are the most used protocol, while PLBs represent the main explant explored.