Regeneration of Plants from Alginate-encapsulated Shoot Tips of Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.)

Myrtle growing naturally in the Mediterranean Region in Turkey, is among the economically important plant species. The present study emphasized on in vitro conservation of M. communis by encapsulating regenerated shoot tips. In this research we reported synthetic seed production and subsequent conversion of encapsulated shoot tips into plantlets comparing with nonencapsulated shoot tips for myrtle. Two different myrtle genotypes were used for synthetic seed production. Sodium alginate solution at the rate of 3.0% and 100 mM calcium chloride solution were prepared for encapsulation. Encapsulation was accomplished by mixing shoot tips into sodium alginate solution and dropping these in calcium chloride solution for 25-30 min. Encapsulated and nonencapsulated shoot tips were cultured in MS (Murashige and Skoog) media supplemented with different BAP (6-Benzylaminopurine) concentrations (0, 0.5, 1, 2 mg L-1). After six weeks, all shoots were transferred to MS media containing 1 mg L-1 IBA for in vitro rooting. As a result, the highest germination rate was obtained on the BAP-free MS media. The best BAP concentrations were detected as 0.5 and 1 mg L-1 for micropropagation. Genetic stability of plants coming from encapsulated and nonencapsulated shoot tips was tested by ISSR markers. Based on the results, there were no genetic differences among the samples.