Page 161 - Zbornik_Konf_2019

https://doi.org/10.15414/2019.9788055220703

4 International Scientific Conference Abstracts Book
th
IN VITRO CONSERVATION, MASS PROPAGATION AND SOME BIOCHEMICAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF FITTONIA ALBIVENIS (LINDL. EX VEITCH) BRUMMITT, AN
ACANTHACEAE SPECIES
Valeriia Belokurova, Kateryna Lystvan, Dmytro Volga, Maksym Vasylenko,
Mykola Kuchuk
Institute of Cell Biology and Genetic Engineering NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine;
E-mail.: lystvan@ukr.net
Acanthaceae family consists of 4300 species in 346 genera and is, therefore, one of the
most diverse families of flowering plants. Besides the fact that Acanthaceae plants possess an
important ecological role in their native habitats they contain many important secondary
metabolites and are used for the treatment of many diseases.
Fittonia albivenis (Lindl. ex Veitch) Brummitt (synonyms F. argyroneura Coem., F.
verschaffeltii (Lem.) Van Houtte) is a species of Acanthaceae family native to the Peruvian
rainforests and known as “nerve plant” or “mosaic plant”. Several publications point at
Fittonia ethnopharmacological properties, which make F. albivenis an interesting object for
further studies. However, its growing ex situ apart from the natural habitat in rainforests
requires special conditions and makes it necessary to elaborate efficient methods of
cultivation and biomass accumulation for the research and practical application. In vitro
culture can be a promising approach in this respect.
In this work we describe a procedure of F. albivenis in vitro conservation and
microclonal propagation by enhanced bud proliferation from shoot tips as well as studying
some biochemical characteristics of plants cultured both in vivo and in vitro. Multiple shoot
formation from apical and axillary buds started in 4 months on MS/2 medium without growth
regulators. Multiplication coefficients ranged from 6.0±1.9 to 14.7±2.6 for different plant
clones. Regular transfer of shoot clusters to the fresh MS/2 medium resulted in increasing
multiplication efficiency. The total quantity of regenerated plants of the most rapidly growing
clone #2 per 8-months cultivation reached more than 1500 plants. In our research, a
hormone-free medium was used for growing F. albivenis plants to ensure their clonal stability
in vitro. The rates of multiplication were quite high as those on culture media supplied with
growth regulators reported in the literature. Comparison of our results and the other
published data shows that application of plant growth regulators seems just to shorten the
time period of Fittonia in vitro microclonal propagation but does not have any significant
effect on multiplication coefficients.
Determination of total phenolics and flavonoids was made; the total content of
flavonoids and phenolics was about 2.0–4.5 mg (of rutin or ferulic acid, accordingly) on 1 g of
the dry weight of plant (0.20–0.45 % of dry weight). The obtained data showed the significant
differences between in vivo growing plants with dark-green (#1) and light-green leaves (#2).
As to in vitro variants of the experiments the mean content of the investigated substances did
not change in #1 whereas the significant increase in both phenolics and flavonoids amount
was observed in #2 extracts. A significant difference in the amount of flavonoids between
studied clones cultured in vitro was also detected.
As a result, the system of effective microclonal propagation of F. albiviens on hormone-
free media was elaborated. The different ability of in vitro Fittonia clones to produce
investigated biologically-active substances has been stated; the clones with the highest
productivity have been identified and will be used in further researches.

Keywords: Fittonia albivenis, Acanthaceae, flavonoids, phenolics, in vitro culture.

4 International Scientific Conference Agrobiodiversity Nutrition, Health and Quality of Human and Bees Life |161
th
September 11–13, 2019