Somatic embryogenesis pathway for plant regeneration in Qinjiao (Gentiana macrophylla Pall.)

Qinjiao (Gentiana macrophylla Pall.) is a perennial herbage native to northwestern China. It has been taken as a kind of Chinese herbs for more than one thousand years. The major secondary metabolite named as gentiopicroside accounts for 8% of the dry weight of roots. It has been used for medical purpose in the treatment with rheumatism, osteoarthritis, inflammatory or ulceration. Conventionally, Qinjiao is propagated by seeds, but the seeds should be planted in one year after harvesting and the germination rate is extremely low. These confine its spread by seeds after year-round storage. Therefore, plant regeneration from somatic cells will be an ideal way for its propagation. Plant regeneration from somatic cell can be divided into two ways: somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis. Similar to zygotic embryo, somatic embryo has a bipolar structure with both shoot and root poles. Somatic embryogenesis also goes through the same key stages as globular-, heart-, torpedo- and cotyledon-stages Somatic embryogenesis was first observed in carrot callus cells more than 45 years ago. Since then, plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis has been studied in many important species. Though the plant regeneration of Qinjiao has been previously studied, there is no investigation of somatic embryogenesis reported in this plant. Therefore, the aim of our experiment is to confirm the somatic embryogenesis pathway of plant regeneration in Qinjiao.