of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy INDIRECT SHOOT ORGANOGENESIS AND SELECTION OF SOMACLONAL VARIATION IN Dieffenbachia 11 By Xiuli Shen May 2007 Chair: Michael E Kane Cochair: Jianjun Chen Major: Horticultural Science A series of experiments were conducted to investigate ...

In plants, carbon source-sink relationships are assumed to affect their reproductive effort. In fruit trees, carbon source-sink relationships are likely to be involved in their fruiting behavior. In apple, a large variability in fruiting behaviors exists, from regular to biennial, which has been related to the within-tree synchronization vs desynchronization of floral induction in buds. In this...

Plant shoot tips do not survive exposure to liquid nitrogen temperatures without cryoprotective treatments. Some cryoprotectant solutions, such as plant vitrification solution 2 (PVS2), dehydrate cells and decrease lethal ice formation, but the extent of dehydration and the effect on water freezing properties are not known. We examined the effect of a PVS2 cryoprotection protocol on the water c...

We developed procedures for the micropropagation of Juniperus oxycedrus L. using shoot apices or nodal segments from mature plants. Of the media and explants examined, best culture establishment was obtained with shoot apices cultured on modified Schenk and Hildebrandt medium (SH medium) without growth regulators; however, shoot multiplication was only achieved when shoot apices isolated from s...

Shoot tips excised from shoot culture of Salvia officinalis were encapsulated in 2% or 3% (w/v) sodium alginate and exposed to 50 mM calcium chloride for complexation. Immediately or after 6, 12 or 24 weeks of storage at 4°C, the synthetic seeds were cultured for 6 weeks on half-strength MS medium supplemented with indole-3acetic acid (IAA) (0.1 mg/l) and solidified with 0.7% agar. The frequenc...

An in vitro method was developed for high frequency shoot regeneration and continuous production of Brassica napus L. in large number. The different concentrations of benzyladenine (1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 mgl and thidiazuron (0, 0.15 and 0.30 mgl) were evaluated for shoot and root regeneration using hypocotyl explants with 7, 14 and 21 days old. Shoot regeneration (SR) was affected by both benzyladen...

Development of seed plant embryos is polarized along the apical-basal axis. This polarization occurs in the absence of cell migration and culminates in the establishment of two distinct pluripotent cell populations: the shoot apical meristem (SAM) and root meristem (RM), which postembryonically give rise to the entire shoot and root systems of the plant. The acquisition of genetic pathways that...

Development of a reproducible, versatile and efficient in vitro plant regeneration system is highly warranted for Indian soybean varieties for their mass multiplication in view of their commercial significance. Accordingly a protocol for direct shoot organogenesis in soybean variety JS 335 has been developed. Using cotyledonary node explants significant organogenic responses, mean shoot number ...

Shoot glucosinolate profiles of Brassicaceae are known to vary within species, across environmental conditions, and between developmental stages. Here we study whether root profiles follow the intra-specific, environmental, and developmental variation observed for aerial parts in white cabbage cultivars. We also assess whether greenhouse studies can be used to predict shoot and root glucosinola...

Shoot tips of cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in vitro plantlets were successfully cryopreserved using the encapsulation-vitrification technique. Nodal cuttings of 5 mm length with one leaf were cultured on modified MS medium in Petri dishes (90 mm x 20 mm) for about 28 days. Excised shoot tips were precultured on sucrose enriched (0.3 M) medium for 16 h, encapsulated and osmoprotected with ...