Effect of sugars, amino acids, and culture technique on maturation of somatic embryos of Pinus strobus on medium with two gellan gum concentrations.

TLDR: Increasing sucrose concentration or substituting part of the sucrose with mannitol or sorbitol had variable effects on somatic embryo maturation depending on the embryogenic line, and complex combinations of amino acids had little effect on mature embryo production of most tested embryogenic lines.

Abstract: Maturation of five embryogenic lines of Pinus strobus L was tested on media with various sugars and sources of organic nitrogen, and solidified with two gellan gum concentrations (06 and 10%) Mature somatic embryo production was more abundant at 10% gellan gum than at 06% Complex combinations of amino acids had little effect on mature embryo production of most tested embryogenic lines Increasing glutamine concentration of the maturation medium from 17 to 73 g l−1 was beneficial to one embryogenic line Increasing sucrose concentration or substituting part of the sucrose with mannitol or sorbitol had variable effects on somatic embryo maturation depending on the embryogenic line A medium with 88 mM sucrose plus 175 mM sorbitol solidified with 10% gellan gum produced high numbers of somatic embryos in four out of five embryogenic lines tested