INDIRECT ORGANOGENESIS AND ESTIMATION OF NUCLEAR DNA CONTENT IN REGENERATED CLONES OF A NON-TOXIC VARIETY OF Jatropha curcas

Abstract

Jatropha curcas L. is a second-generation energy crop, which produces approximately 40% oil in its seeds, which can be transformed into biodiesel. In vitro culture is a valuable tool for the multiplication and conservation of elite plant varieties. In J. curcas, there are several reports on the micropropagation of the species, but with low reproducibility. The objective of this study was to obtain the in vitro organogenesis of J. curcas and estimate the nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry during eight subcultures in vitro. The organogenesis of adventitious shoots was obtained in 3.3 g/l of MS, 110.25 μM of 6–(γ, γ-Dimethylallylamino) purine (2ip), 1.27 μM of indoleacetic acid (IAA) and 369.21 μM of adenine sulfate (AdS), obtaining up to 18.50 ± 0.7 shoots per explant. The development of the shoots was 1.67 ± 0.76 cm in MS medium, 4.44 μM of benzylaminopurine (BAP), 1.0 μM of IAA and 543 μM of AdS. The rooting was 13.6 ± 2.51 roots in ½ MS and 14.7 μM of indole butyric acid (IBA). The nuclear DNA content was from 0.80 ± 0.12 to 1.07 ± 0.23 pg of nuclear DNA during the eight subcultures.