Cryopreservation of Russian raspberry cultivars and their long-term storage in the VIR cryobank

Background. Cryopreservation is an effective method for long-term preservation of plant specimens. Cryogenic collections of accessions of the genus Rubus exist in few foreign genebanks, which contain virtually no national raspberry cultivars. The overwhelming majority of studies on the cryopreservation of Rubus specimens are based on the use of in vitro plant apices as explants. The in vitro collection of Rubus accessions at the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR) comprises 160 accessions, including 79 home-bred raspberry cultivars. Long-term storage of raspberry accessions from the VIR in vitro collection in the VIR cryobank was initiated in 2017. The objective of this study was to arrange cryopreservation and long-term storage of 11 Russian raspberry cultivars from the VIR in vitro collection. This study also summarized data on the entire VIR cryo collection of raspberry, which currently includes 27 Rubus idaeus L. cultivars. Materials and Methods. Accessions of modern raspberry cultivars obtained from five Russian breeding centers were added to the VIR in vitro collection. Cryopreservation of microplant apices was performed using the droplet vitrification method modified at VIR. Statistical analysis of variance and principal component analysis were used for data processing. Results and Discussion. Eleven Russian-bred raspberry cultivars were introduced into in vitro culture and cryopreserved. Post-cryogenic regeneration rate for these specimens ranged from 27 to 65%. Currently, the entire cryogenic collection of raspberry cultivars preserved in the VIR cryobank comprises 27 cultivars with post-cryogenic regeneration rates ranging from 24 to 89%. Using the principal component analysis, the cultivar accessions were grouped on the basis of their response to immersion in liquid nitrogen in control experiments. Conclusions. The cryogenic collection of raspberry accessions in the VIR cryobank has been expanded with 11 cultivars. Currently, the cryogenic collection includes 23 released cultivars and four landraces. All 27 cultivars were placed in long-term storage in the VIR cryobank at a rate of at least 90 explants per accession.

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