Epigenetic and somaclonal divergence in Dendrocalamus farinosus for physiological augmentation and lignin degradation

Epigenetic and molecular variation is a key approach for the improvement of plants. From in vitro tissue culture of Dendrocalamus farinosus; 30 plants were regenerated and after 2 years, the physiological, biochemical, and genomic studies were conducted. The results highlighted that for all phenotypic characteristics, the 30 regenerated plants were superior in comparison with the control (CK). From genetical analysis, a total of 97 bands were witnessed ranging between 212 bp and 2.2 kb. The results for OPU14 showed one additional specific band (723 bp) and one band (700 bp) were missing. The 10 plants were having genetic variability and can be termed as somaclones while the other plants have epigenetic variations. The cellulose and lignin analysis highlighted that somaclone No. 30 has the least cellulose content of 35%; while the somaclones No. 102 and No. 213 have the least 3.21% and 3.48% of lignin contents. Therefore, somaclones No. 30, No. 102, and No. 213 were selected for the histochemical localization. The lignin investigation revealed that somaclone No. 30 is greater while somaclones No. 102 and No. 213 were reduced in vascular bundles in comparison with the CK along with the high expression level of 4CL, C3H, C4H, COMT, and CCoAOMT1 genes.