Tissue culture of the desert plant Anastatica hiërochuntica

Callus derived from the winter annual desert plant Anastatica hiërochuntica was grown on different media, Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium giving the best results. Large amounts of lignified xylem elements were formed resulting in an extremely hard tissue. The growth responses to different auxins, cytokinins and abscisic acid were investigated. When salts (high Na(+), Ca(2+) and Cl(-)-contents) as they can be found in aqueous extracts of desert soils from a natural A. hiëerochuntica habitat were added to Abou-Mandour (1977) or MS-media, growth of callus was inhibited drastically. In the presence of abscisic acid, however, original growth was completely restored. In salt free control media on the other hand, ABA proved to be inhibitory. Drought stress caused a decrease of both cytokinins and indoleacetic acid in the callus while ABA levels were increased, but by far not as distinct as in intact plants. Proline level was not affected by stress.