Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia Jacks.) cell suspension cultures: establishment, characterization, and applications

The establishment and characterization of cell suspension cultures are an in vitro culture technique very useful for various plant biotechnological applications (production of secondary metabolites, mass micropropagation, protoplast isolation and fusion, gene transfer and the investigation of cell pathways). The objective of this study was to establish and characterization of cell suspension cultures of V. planifolia by inducing friable calluses. For that, friable calluses were obtained from immature seeds cultivated in MS medium supplemented with 0.45 mu M thidiazuron (TDZ). The effect of benzyladenine (BA) in different concentrations was evaluated. Cultures were incubated under photoperiod at continuous stirring at 120 rpm on an orbital shaker. The optimal condition found for biomass growth in suspension cultures was 0.5 g of inoculum density (fresh weight) in MS liquid, supplemented with 8.88 mu M BA. The growth kinetics of the cell suspension culture revealed a maximum cell growth (exponential growth phase) at day 16 and an 80% cell viability. The establishment and characterization of cell suspension cultures of V. planifolia constitute the bases of future studies and above all a better biotechnological use of this crop.