Slow-growth conservation and clonal fidelity of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum microplants

Storage under slow growth is one of the most successful techniques for medium-term germplasm conservation and could effectively reduce somaclonal variation during subculture. Tetrastigma hemsleyanum is an endangered medicinal herb with anticancer potential. In the present study, an effective protocol was developed for clonal propagation and medium-term conservation of this endangered medicinal plant. Subculture duration was significantly prolonged to at least 10 mo by using 0.2 mg L −1 of maleic hydrazide (MH) at 8°C. Analyses of inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers, sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) markers, total proteins, and peroxidase isozymes together demonstrated the genetic stability of the regenerated germplasm. Total flavonoid content of regenerated microplants also remained stable. These results suggest that MH has potential application in slow-growth conservation of plants.