Plant regeneration from embryogenic cell suspensions and protoplasts of dessert banana cv. 'Da Jiao' (Musa paradisiacal ABB Linn.) via somatic embryogenesis

The 'Da Jiao' cultivar of banana (Musa paradisiacal ABB Linn.) is an ideal germplasm to produce new banana varieties resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (FOC) race 4, for this cultivar is not only a popular dessert banana in south China, but also bears high resistance to FOC race 4. In this study, we established a homogeneous embryogenic cell suspension (ECS) of 'Da Jiao' and obtained regenerated plants from ECS-derived protoplasts via somatic embryogenesis. The ECS was initiated from yellow friable callus induced from immature male inflorescence on M1 medium. A pre-culture was used to select ECS in M2 medium without 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid for 10 d. Addition of 1.0 mg L-1 abscisic acid to M3 medium could enhance the frequency of somatic embryogenesis by about 2.6-fold. Protoplasts, with a yield range of 5-6 x 10(6) per milliliter, were isolated from the ECS. About 0.35% of the protoplasts formed microcallus, which contained about 100 cells, after 1 mo of feeder layer culture with ECS of Musa acuminate cv. Mas (AA) as nurse cells. Healthy plantlets (0.14%) were regenerated from the microcallus through somatic embryogenesis.