Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Establishment and Characterization of Callus and Cell Suspension Cultures of Selected Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench Varieties: A Resource for Gene Discovery in Plant Stress Biology

Ramulifho, Elelwani; Goche, Tatenda; Van As, Johann; Tsilo, Toi John; Chivasa, Stephen; Ngara, Rudo

Establishment and Characterization of Callus and Cell Suspension Cultures of Selected Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench Varieties: A Resource for Gene Discovery in Plant Stress Biology Thumbnail


Authors

Elelwani Ramulifho

Johann Van As

Toi John Tsilo

Rudo Ngara



Abstract

Sorghum, a naturally drought tolerant crop, is genetically diverse and provides a wide gene pool for exploitation in crop breeding. In this study, we experimentally assessed friable callus induction rates of seven sorghum varieties using shoot explant for the generation of cell suspension cultures. The cell suspensions were characterized in terms of cell growth and viability profiles as well as gene expression following 400 mM sorbitol-induced osmotic stress for 72 h. Only ICSB 338, a drought susceptible variety, was readily amenable to friable callus formation. Cell culture growth plots of both ICSB 338 and White sorghum (used as a reference line) depicted typical sigmoidal curves. Interestingly, Evans blue assay showed that ICSB 338 cell cultures are more susceptible to osmotic stress than the White sorghum cells. The osmotic stress treatment also triggered differential expression of eight target genes between the two cell culture lines. Overall, these results suggest that the genetic diversity of sorghum germplasm influences friable callus induction rates and molecular responses to osmotic stress, and could be further exploited in plant stress biology studies. Therefore, we have developed a valuable resource for use in molecular studies of sorghum in response to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses.

Citation

Ramulifho, E., Goche, T., Van As, J., Tsilo, T. J., Chivasa, S., & Ngara, R. (2019). Establishment and Characterization of Callus and Cell Suspension Cultures of Selected Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench Varieties: A Resource for Gene Discovery in Plant Stress Biology. Agronomy, 9(5), Article 218. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9050218

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 15, 2019
Online Publication Date Apr 30, 2019
Publication Date Apr 30, 2019
Deposit Date May 29, 2019
Publicly Available Date May 29, 2019
Journal Agronomy
Publisher MDPI
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 5
Article Number 218
DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9050218

Files

Published Journal Article (4.1 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).





You might also like



Downloadable Citations