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Epichloë occultans enhances micropropagation efficiency in Lolium multiflorum

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Abstract

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) is an annual grass considered as one of the most important temperate forage grasses in the world. However, it is recalcitrant to plant tissue culture techniques hindering its genetic manipulation. Epichloë occultans is an endophytic fungus associated with L. multiflorum. This symbiosis causes improvements in physiological and ecological traits of the host plants. The objective of this work was to study the effect of E. occultans on L. multiflorum micropropagation. We compared the response of endophyte-infected (E+) and endophyte-free (E−) seeds in different micropropagation stages. The E+ seeds were more successful than E− seeds in in vitro germination (83 ± 5 vs. 63 ± 6%), callus induction (78 ± 5 vs. 57 ± 6%), callus proliferation (average diameter of 21.5 ± 1.3 mm in two subcultures vs 17.3 ± 0.8 mm in three subcultures) and plant regeneration from callus (83 ± 7 vs. 30 ± 8%). These results indicate that E. occultans enhances significantly L. multiflorum micropropagation. The use of endophyte-infected (E+) seeds can be a solution to make this grass more amenable to different biotechnological tools, such as the genetic transformation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2014-3315) CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina) Grant PIP 11220150100956CO and from Universidad de Buenos Aires UBACyT 20020150100067BA and 20020150200075BA. INMIBO Publication No. 216. Doctor Regalado Gonzalez is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at CONICET.

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  1. Laboratorio de Cultivo Experimental de Plantas y Microalgas, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, No. 68, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    J. J. Regalado & S. I. Pitta-Alvarez

  2. Laboratorio de Micología y Fitopatología, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, No. 69, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. V. Vignale, M. V. Novas & L. J. Iannone

  3. Instituto de Micología y Botánica (INMIBO), Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    J. J. Regalado, M. V. Vignale, M. V. Novas, S. I. Pitta-Alvarez & L. J. Iannone

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  1. J. J. Regalado
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  2. M. V. Vignale
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Regalado, J.J., Vignale, M.V., Novas, M.V. et al. Epichloë occultans enhances micropropagation efficiency in Lolium multiflorum . Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 130, 37–46 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-017-1202-y

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