In Vitro Rapid Propagation And DNA Methylation Variation Of Gardenia Jasminoides Eills

Rapid in vitro propagation is a hot topic in plant tissue culture. The study of tissue culture and rapid propagation of Gardenia Jasminoides Ellis can provide a feasible means for rapid propagation of this important plant. Provided a high level of multiplication index and survival rate can be achieved, we can establish a lower cost system for large-scale propagation of this plant.Literature search indicates that there is no published investigation on the stability or variation of DNA methylation associated with in vitro propagation of G. Jasminoides. However, such information is required for commercial utilization of the in vitro propagating method in any agricultural or ornamental plants.This study was designed to investigate possible alteration in DNA methylation in in vitro propagated G. Jasminoides plants. For this purpose, we used 23 in vitro propagated plants and its mother-donor plant as a control. In total, 750 bands were obtained using the MSAP marker, of which an average of 221 bands targeted to cytosine-methylated CCGG sites, which accounted for 29.47% of the total sampled CCGG sites. There were 305 polymorphic bands detected in one or more of the 23 plants relative to the mother-donor control plant ,giving to a alteration frequency of about 1.81%. This result indicated that in the in vitro propagation process, the great majority of the CCGG sites in the genome remained stable with regard to methylation, and only a small fraction might undergo alterations in methylation. about a parallel study on the same set of plants by the methylation-insensitive marker AFLP showed that of about 300 bands scored, no variation occurred. Taken together, results of this study suggest that the in vitro propagation system we established for G. Jasminoides can produce plants with genetic fidelity and fairly stable methylation patterns.