Effective and reproducible protocols for in vitro culturing and plant regeneration of the physiological model plant Ramonda myconi (L.) Rchb

The first procedures have been established for in vitro micropropagation and plant regeneration of the desiccation-tolerant plant Ramonda myconi (L.) Rchb. An integrated optimisation of salt, antioxidant and growth regulator composition, and potassium-phosphate buffer-mediated pH stabilisation of culture media resulted in an effective tissue culture system that prevented the undesirable hyperhydricity and tissue necrosis typical of Ramonda tissue cultures. We examined whether there is any similarity in tissue culturing between the two resurrection plants Craterostigma plantagineum and R. myconi as a consequence of their common physiological specialisation. The fact that regenerated plants developed on dedifferentiated cell cultures, which is a precondition of Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer, could mean an applicable basis for the optimisation of the genetic transformation of Ramonda species.