Pulse treatments of penicillin-G and streptomycin minimise internal infections and have post-treatment effects on the morphogenesis of ginseng root culture

Abstract

This study was initiated to determine whether antibiotic pulse treatments (APT) could effectively eliminate internal infections of ginseng (Panax ginseng) root explants containing vascular tissue, and subsequently have post-treatment effects on changing explant behaviors in callus induction and organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis. For contamination control, a treatment of 40 min with an antibiotic solution consisting of 1000 mg/1 of penicillin-G and 1000 mg/1 of streptomycin immediately following Na-hypochlorite sterilisation significantly decreased contamination rate. Extending treatment time to 2–3 h further lowered the contamination rate to 30–40%. On the other hand, explants treated with antibiotics for 20 min or less were all contaminated. APT also had post-treatment effects; it delayed callus induction for 1–12 months depending on pulse duration and stimulated the generation of more hardand darker looking than fragile- and lighter looking callus. The induced callus proliferated at a depressed rate, increasing subculture intervals from 1 to several weeks, and not until after five subcultures did it fully recover. The regeneration ability of the recovered callus was also affected by APT: the regeneration of adventitious roots was promoted, whereas somatic embryos were not observed.