Abstract:
Several species in the genus Peperomia Ruiz and Pav have giant chloroplasts in the palisade parenchyma of their leaves. Because of this unique feature, Peperomia pellucida L. has become a valuable model plant for studying plastid biology. However, the use of Peperomia for molecular studies has been limited by the lack of efficient regeneration and transformation protocols. This study describes an effective protocol for in vitro shoot induction, plant regeneration and rooting from internode of explant of Peperomia pellucida using Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different plant growth regulators. The multiple shoots were induced from internodes cultured on MS medium containing Kinetin (KN) (0.5 mg L-1) alone which induced six shoots per internodal explant. In combination Benzyladenine (BA) (1.5 mg L-1) and KN (1.5 mg L-1) induced 10 shoots per explant, while, length of shoots were significantly increased in BA (1.0 mg L-1) and KN (3.0 mg L-1) (0.8 cm per explant); KN (0.5 mg L-1) (0.7 cm per explant) respectively. Adventitious root induction was achieved on MS media with different concentrations of Indole-3-Butricacide (IBA) and Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA). The successful root induction was observed in MS medium supplemented with IBA and shown 100% responses while plantlets survival was 90% at greenhouse garden soil. Rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized to pot containing soil, sand and farm manure (1:1:1) and established in tissue culture room. In vitro methanol and ethanol extracts gave the highest amount of Apiol and Phytol content in GC-MS analysis. This protocol could be very useful for mass cultivation of Peperomia pellucida for industrial exploitation with selected and standardized plants productiont.
