1. Introduction
Fritillaria meleagris L. or snake’s head fritillary (Liliaceae) is a perennial bulbous plant, very attractive for its flowers and therefore valuable as an ornamental species. In addition to their great horticultural importance, these plants also have potential for medicinal use due to their phytochemical properties [
1] thanks to different alkaloids, used for centuries as antitussive and expectorant agents, especially in Chinese medicine [
2]. Most fritillary species are mainly distributed throughout the temperate climates of the northern hemisphere [
3,
4,
5]. As most geophytes, they have a period of bulb dormancy, which enables them to survive unfavorable natural conditions in the form of dormant bulbs below the surface.
Propagation of these important plants is very slow and difficult using conventional methods (seeds and bulbs cuttings), and it takes several years for the initial seedlings to grow into mature plants [
6].Tissue culture techniques can improve the regeneration potential, multiplication and large-scale production of this important plant [
1,
7]. Alternative propagation methods could ensure massive production of plants for continuing requests and growing demands [
8]. Moreover, micropropagation requires a very small amount of plant material and facilitates the production of large numbers of homogenous plants year-round without harming the environment and natural populations of endangered plants that are difficult to propagate [
9].
The success of plant tissue culture generally depends on the inclusion of plant growth regulators in the medium. The two main groups of phytohormones commonly used in tissue culture experiments include auxins and cytokinins [
10]. Auxins, cytokinins and auxin–cytokinin interactions are considered to be the most important for regulating growth and development in plant tissue and organ cultures [
11]. Different auxin types can generate different physiological responses in plant material, resulting in different regeneration efficiencies [
12]. The most frequently used auxins in regeneration studies include 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) [
7,
12,
13,
14]. The most frequently used cytokinins for inducing plant regeneration are 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and thidiazuron (TDZ) due to the highest response in many plant species, particularly those recalcitrant to regeneration [
15,
16,
17].
Studies have shown that various bulbous plants have great potential for regeneration from bulb scale explants [
18]. The choice of plant growth regulators, their combinations and concentrations are critical for morphogenetic response (i.e., stimulating the formation of bulblets, roots, shoots, plantlets, protocorm-like bodies or somatic embryos) and plant regeneration capacity [
19]. To date, numerous studies have examined the effects of various in vitro culture factors on the morphogenesis of different bulbous plants, especially bulblet multiplication [
20,
21,
22,
23,
24,
25,
26]. Bulb scales were also a very attractive explant type for the induction of somatic embryogenesis [
27]. Somatic embryogenesis often occurred simultaneously with organogenesis on the same explant under the same experimental conditions [
28]. An efficient protocol for somatic embryogenesis results in rapid and effective proliferation of somatic embryos (SEs) that can be removed from the initial explant. Separated embryos have high potential for whole plant regeneration [
8].
Propagation of
Fritillaria by tissue culture techniques began with medically important species of the genus [
29,
30,
31]. In most studies of
Fritillaria regeneration, media with a low concentration of NAA were used in combination with BAP or KIN [
27]. The most commonly used explants were bulb scales, whole bulbs and young leaves. Regeneration from bulbs and bulb scales depends on the
Fritillaria species, the composition of the medium, and the combination of plant growth regulators and sugars. Bulb scales proved to be the most efficient explant type for many
Fritillaria species [
27], such as
F. thunbergii [
20],
F. hupehensis [
32] and
F. meleagris [
8]. Using parts or whole bulbs formed in vitro as starting material for initiating the regeneration process has many advantages, such as reducing contamination and destruction of natural populations [
33]. The growth rate also increased with the duration of culture. For
F. unibracteata cultured on medium supplemented with BAP and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the optimal time for bulb collection was after 50 days of culture [
31]. In
F. camtschatcensis, low concentrations of NAA (0.1–0.5 mg/L) had a strong effect on bulb formation (five bulbs per explant) after 40 days of culture [
34]. A very large number of bulblets (14 bulblets per explant) were obtained from bulb scale sections of
F. thunbergii on medium containing KIN [
20].
We focused on plant regeneration from bulbs and bulb scale sections on different culture media as the most cost-effective and popular approach for bulb production [
18]. Our previous studies have shown that cold treatment (at least 4 weeks) has a strong positive effect on dormancy breaking, bulb multiplication and rooting rate of
F. meleagris in vitro [
35,
36]. Chilling treatment was also important for successful acclimatization of in vitro regenerated plantlets. Bulbs were generally stored at low temperature (4 °C) prior to regeneration experiments to improve regeneration capacity.
Previously, we investigated the potential for bulb regeneration on a culture medium supplemented with TDZ, where the maximum number of regenerated bulbs was obtained at a concentration of 0.05 mg/L [
8] or with a combination of 2,4-D and kinetin (KIN) at 1 mg/L each, which produced the highest number of bulblets [
14]. Moreover, somatic embryogenesis and whole plant regeneration of
F. meleagris were achieved on medium containing 2,4-D (1 mg/L) or TDZ (0.1 or 0.2 mg/L) [
8]. In addition to our laboratory, Kukulczanka et al. [
1] reported regeneration of
F. meleagris using NAA and BAP at concentrations of 1 and 2 mg/L, respectively, for optimal bulb production. Numerous procedures for in vitro regeneration, starting from various explants and using different regeneration pathways, differ in their requirements for these two classes of PGRs [
13]. Therefore, PGR combinations may be further optimized for increased regeneration response.
In the present work, we explore the influence of different combinations of plant growth regulators on morphogenetic response in bulb scale segments of F. meleagris. PGRs were applied to stimulate the direct formation of bulbs and somatic embryos depending on the composition of the medium in an attempt to find a cost-effective method for a combined morphogenetic pathway that would be suitable for large-scale propagation of F. meleagris. We hope that our results will provide both practical and theoretical insights to improve the in vitro regeneration of F. meleagris, which could be useful for the production of other geophytes.
4. Discussion
A very high percentage of regeneration (both bulblets and somatic embryos) was achieved in
F. meleagris, even on PGR-free medium, after 4 weeks of cultivation at 7 °C. All explants were maintained at chilling temperature, as low temperatures have a positive effect on breaking dormancy in snake’s head fritillary [
38]. Light did not affect the regeneration capacity of
F. meleagris bulb scale sections, which had a very high regeneration percentage in the dark. Similar results were reported for
F. thunbergii [
20], in contrast to
F. imperialis, where no regeneration occurred during cultivation in the dark [
33]. However, Leshem et al. [
21] demonstrated that light significantly affected bulblet growth, even though it did not affect regeneration capacity.
The highest regeneration rate (100% after only 2 weeks) in
F. meleagris was observed on medium containing a combination of BAP and 2,4-D. Significantly lower regeneration rates were obtained with the combination of BAP and NAA, in contrast to
Lilium longiflorum bulb scales grown under a combination of low BAP and low NAA for two weeks [
39]. The presence of auxin and cytokinin is critical for shoot induction from bulbs, especially their optimal concentration in the culture medium [
40,
41]. The addition of a low concentration of auxin with a high concentration of cytokinin proved to be suitable for cell division and regeneration in vitro [
42]. In
F. meleagris, the number of shoots per explant was higher at low auxin/low cytokinin concentrations, which were also favorable for shoot elongation. The important role of auxins in shoot elongation has been described previously, as well as the beneficial effects of chilling and translocation of accumulated carbohydrate reserves from bulbs on this process [
43,
44]. Without chilling, bulbs showed no responsiveness to auxin, whereas the maximum response level increased with increasing duration of the cold treatment [
43,
45]. In contrast, the accumulation of cytokinins in bulbs was not temperature-dependent [
45].
During chilling, PGRs accelerated the initiation of new shoots in snake’s head fritillary, especially BAP/NAA at low concentrations. NAA also affected shoot proliferation in
Tulipa [
46]. NAA with BAP at high concentration (4 mg/L) promoted direct shoot organogenesis in
Lycoris sprengeri [
47]. A similar observation regarding the initiation and development of microbulbs by the addition of PGRs was made in
F. sonnikovae [
48]. These authors also found that bulb scale was the best explant type for regeneration, exhibiting high morphogenetic activity on medium lacking PGRs. This is consistent with our finding that the number of shoots per explant at the end of the chilling experiment was not significantly increased by the addition of PGRs, and that the hormone-free medium proved satisfactory for shoot initiation in
F. meleagris.
Bulblet multiplication capacity varies among different auxins, and their optimal concentration also varies among species. Bulblet formation in
F. camtschatcensis after 40 days of culture was strongly influenced by NAA at low concentrations [
34]. Organogenesis usually occurs when cytokinin concentration is higher than auxin concentration, which was exactly the case in our study on BAP/NAA-supplemented media during chilling. In our study, low NAA together with high cytokinin concentrations showed a promoting effect on bulblet regeneration in snake’s head fritillary. Such a dual, positive effect of auxin and cytokinin on in vitro bulb regeneration was also demonstrated in a number of bulbous plant species [
24,
26,
47,
49,
50,
51,
52]. A relatively high number of bulbs in
F. meleagris was also recorded at high levels of BAP, similar to
L. sprengeri, where maximum bulblet proliferation was found at 4 mg/L BAP [
47]. This is consistent with the findings of Nhut et al. [
19], who demonstrated a direct relationship between cytokinin concentration and organ formation. However, BAP had no effect on bulblet regeneration in
Lilium spp. [
23] and even exerted an inhibitory effect in
F. imperialis, where no bulblets formed on a medium containing BAP [
53], and in
Pancratium maritimum, where BA and NAA reduced the number of bulblets at any concentration [
54].
The formation of new bulbs in
F. meleagris at a higher concentration of BAP after only two weeks of cold treatment might be related to the effect of BAP on sucrose degradation and endogenous hormone interaction, and thus on the regeneration of new bulblets [
55]. However, later, during cultivation at 24 °C, high cytokinin concentrations were no longer favorable for bulb induction, and the highest number of bulbs was obtained on a medium with a cytokinin concentration about eight-fold lower than that of auxin 2,4-D. The physiological response likely increased with increasing hormone concentration until explants reached the saturation point, as shown in
Lilium ledebourii [
41]. Some studies showed that increasing auxin and cytokinin concentrations above optimal levels had an inhibitory effect on the endogenous hormones of explants, resulting in a decrease in their morphogenetic response [
56,
57]. Exogenously applied PGRs can affect the levels of endogenous plant hormones by influencing their biosynthesis and distribution, thus altering in vitro development [
58]. In
F. meleagris, lower auxin/cytokinin concentrations were effective for bulb regeneration throughout the experiment, which could be attributed to adequate endogenous auxin/cytokinin content in the bulb scale explants.
In our study, medium without PGRs was very efficient for somatic embryogenesis in
F. meleagris. PGR-free medium often proved to be more effective for plant morphogenesis than different PGR combinations in many
Liliaceae and
Amaryllidaceae species [
18,
25]. The high percentage of regeneration on hormone-free medium could be explained by high nutrient reserves in the scales. When propagated by scaling, these nutrient reserves strongly influenced the formation of bulblets [
59]. In
Lilium, the outer and middle scales tended to produce more bulblets, which researchers linked to the carbohydrate content of these scales [
22]. In addition to the high nutrient reserves in the explants, the increased number of somatic embryos in
F. meleagris on a medium lacking plant growth regulators could also be due to the endogenous auxin/cytokinin content, which could promote SE regeneration on the bulb scales. However, Asmita et al. [
60] did not detect somatic embryos on transverse thin cell layer sections excised from in vitro bulb scales of
Lilium on PGR-free medium.
In addition to PGR-free medium, low auxin/cytokinin combinations (0.25 mg/L BAP + 1 mg/L 2,4-D and 2 mg/L BAP + 0.25 mg/L NAA) had a positive effect on the number of SEs in snake’s head fritillary. A similar effect of these PGRs was observed in indirect somatic embryogenesis of African blue lily [
61]. The efficacy of 2,4-D in somatic embryogenesis has already been demonstrated, as well as that of picloram and NAA, but different auxin types can generate different physiological responses in different plant species. In
P. abies, 2,4-D treatment reduced embryogenic tissue proliferation, in contrast to NAA, and this reduction was related to the oxidative stress level, which was higher in the presence of 2,4-D in the proliferation medium [
12]. In our study, where NAA was generally also more effective than 2,4-D in SE induction, callus formation was not observed with any auxin/cytokinin combination, suggesting direct organogenesis.
The morphogenetic pathway is strongly dependent on the genotype and the content of endogenous hormones in the explants [
41]. In
F. meleagris, the highest cytokinin concentrations negatively affected the formation of SEs, which could be due to the endogenous hormones in the bulbs, i.e., hormone imbalance caused by the addition of exogenous cytokinins at higher concentrations.
Somatic embryos of F. meleagris continued to develop, and future experiments will include their successful acclimatization under greenhouse conditions.