Direct somatic embryogenesis and genetic homogeneity assessment of regenerated plants of Anthurium andraeanum Linden cv. Fantasia

We present here a method for the in vitro propagation of Anthurium andraeanum cv. Fantasia through direct somatic embryogenesis. The embryos were directly formed at the cut end of most of the leaf explants when cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with N-6-benzyladenine (BA) plus alpha-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). MS basal media supplemented with BA (0.27 mu M) and NAA (2.68 mu M) induced maximum number of somatic embryos per leaf explant (15.33 +/- 1.45) after 28 d of continuous culture. The highest numbers of embryos (12.33 +/- 0.88) were matured into plantlets in MS basal medium augmented with 0.27 mu M BA and 58.4 mM sucrose. Histology showed the presence of scutellum, coleoptile, well-developed root, and shoot initials at different stages of somatic embryo (SE) development directly on leaf explants. About 85% of the plantlets were successfully acclimatized, and of these, 80.3% plants survived after secondary hardening under greenhouse conditions. The embryo-derived plants successfully flowered. The presence of monomorphic DNA bands in random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker analysis confirmed the genetic homogeneity of direct somatic embryo-derived plantlets in respect to their mother plant.