Haploid plant regeneration from anther cultures of three north american cultivars of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.)

Summary

A study was conducted to maximize plant regeneration frequencies from cultured anthers of ‘Chandler’, ‘Honeoye’, and ‘Redchief’ strawberries (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.). A comparison of auxins (IAA, NAA), cytokinins (BA, BPA, KIN) and carbohydrates (sucrose, glucose, maltose) in MS medium showed that the highest shoot regeneration across cultivars (8%) occurred when using a medium containing 2 mg/l IAA, 1 mg/l BA, and 0.2 M glucose. A comparison of MS, NN, and H1 inorganic medium (a new formulation based on the anther culture literature) solidified with either agar or gellan gum and containing IAA, BA, and glucose, showed the highest shoot regeneration across cultivars (19%) when using H1 and gellan gum. Lastly, media containing Fe-EDTA yielded more shoots than media containing Fe-Metalosate, and anthers cultured on Fe-EDTA media in darkness for 30d followed by 30d in white light produced more shoots (16% average regeneration) than those cultured on Fe-EDTA media under white or yellow light (16h photoperiod) for the initial 30d (0.3% and 5% respectively). Plants were acclimated ex vitro where they flowered and set fruit. Chromosome counts of root tip cells confirmed that haploid plants were obtained from all three cultivars.