Articles
SPORE-DERIVED IN VITRO CULTURES FROM HERBARIUM SPECIMENS OF CAPE VERDE FERNS
Article number
1083_34
Pages
273 – 279
Language
English
Abstract
Ferns are a group of plants particularly vulnerable to threats, largely resulting from their sensivity to environmental disturbances.
Herbarium exsiccate are potentially valuable repositories of living spores and may allow the recovery of fern species considered threatened or extinct in the wild. Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link, Cheilanthes acrostica (Balb.) Tod. and Cosentinia vellea (Aiton) Tod. subsp. vellea (Pteridaceae) are hygrophytic (the first) and xerophytic (the last ones) ferns with high ecological value. C. vellea subsp. vellea is considered as probably endangered in the archipelago and is included in the Cape Verde Red List.
In the present work, spores from six- and eight-year-old exsiccate (LISC Herbarium) of A. leptophylla and eight-year-old exsiccate of C. acrostica and C. vellea, collected in Cape Verde islands, were cultured in vitro.
Surface sterilised spores were sown in liquid culture medium consisting on ½ strength Murashige and Skoog mineral salts, supplemented with 2% sucrose.
Two months after culture initiation well-developed gametophytes were observed in the cultures of the three fern species under study.
Only A. leptophylla eight-year-old spores failed to germinate.
Gametophyte development after transfer to different semi-solid media (0.25% gelrite) supplemented or not with 150 mg/L of NaH2PO4 and four different levels of sucrose (0 to 2%) was evaluated.
Sucrose content in the culture medium influenced gametophyte growth and proliferation.
In terms of sporophyte development, first sporophytes were observed in A. leptophylla cultures four months after establishment, on medium supplemented with 2% sucrose and 150 mg/L of NaH2PO4. In C. acrostica cultures, first sporophytes were observed during the fifth month of culture on media supplemented with sucrose and NaH2PO4 while in C. vellea cultures first sporophytes were only observed after eight months on culture medium devoid of sucrose and on culture medium supplemented with 0.5% sucrose.
Herbarium exsiccate are potentially valuable repositories of living spores and may allow the recovery of fern species considered threatened or extinct in the wild. Anogramma leptophylla (L.) Link, Cheilanthes acrostica (Balb.) Tod. and Cosentinia vellea (Aiton) Tod. subsp. vellea (Pteridaceae) are hygrophytic (the first) and xerophytic (the last ones) ferns with high ecological value. C. vellea subsp. vellea is considered as probably endangered in the archipelago and is included in the Cape Verde Red List.
In the present work, spores from six- and eight-year-old exsiccate (LISC Herbarium) of A. leptophylla and eight-year-old exsiccate of C. acrostica and C. vellea, collected in Cape Verde islands, were cultured in vitro.
Surface sterilised spores were sown in liquid culture medium consisting on ½ strength Murashige and Skoog mineral salts, supplemented with 2% sucrose.
Two months after culture initiation well-developed gametophytes were observed in the cultures of the three fern species under study.
Only A. leptophylla eight-year-old spores failed to germinate.
Gametophyte development after transfer to different semi-solid media (0.25% gelrite) supplemented or not with 150 mg/L of NaH2PO4 and four different levels of sucrose (0 to 2%) was evaluated.
Sucrose content in the culture medium influenced gametophyte growth and proliferation.
In terms of sporophyte development, first sporophytes were observed in A. leptophylla cultures four months after establishment, on medium supplemented with 2% sucrose and 150 mg/L of NaH2PO4. In C. acrostica cultures, first sporophytes were observed during the fifth month of culture on media supplemented with sucrose and NaH2PO4 while in C. vellea cultures first sporophytes were only observed after eight months on culture medium devoid of sucrose and on culture medium supplemented with 0.5% sucrose.
Authors
I.R. Moura, M.C. Simões-Costa, M.J. Silva, M.C. Duarte
Keywords
Anogramma leptophylla, biodiversity conservation, Cheilanthes acrostica, Cosentinia vellea, in vitro spore culture
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