1 Wanchat Sawaengsak, 1Tanatorn Saisavoey, 2Petcharat Chuntaratin, and 2Aphichart Karnchanatat
Licorice, Glycyrrhiza glabra L., is a perennial plant native to Southern Europe and parts of Asia, used as a non-nutritional sweetener but with numerous reported pharmacological effects, including antiinflammatory and antiviral properties. This study describes a protocol for the micropropagation of G. glabra plants from in vitro shoot tips. Three media formulations, Murashige-Skoog (MS), Gamborg (B5) and Woody Plant Medium (WPM) medium, supplemented with 1-, 1/2- or 1/4- strength B5 salt base were tested for the ability to support the growth of shoot tips in culture. In this study, 1/2-strength B5 salt base was found to be the most suitable supplement for G. glabra plant growth and development. However, MS medium supported a superior explant proliferation rate. MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mgL-1 of the cytokinin benzyladenine (BA) produced the largest average number of shoots (4.75) per explant. The highest efficiency of root formation occurred in the 1/2-strength B5 medium containing 5.0 mgL-1 of either of the two auxins, indolacetic acid (IAA) or indolebutyric acid (IBA), after six weeks of culture. The production of glycyrrhizin in culture using 1/2-strength B5 medium supplemented with 5 mgL-1 IAA increased with time up to week eight reaching 27.57 ± 0.66 g g-1 dry wt.
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