In vitro plant regeneration, genetic fidelity, biochemical analysis and anticancer activity of anthocyanin-rich purple flesh sweet potato var. 'Bhu Krishna'

Purple flesh sweet potato var. 'Bhu Krishna' is a rich source of vitamins, minerals, and several important secondary metabolites, including anthocyanin. The tuber of this variety contains a high level of anthocyanin (85-90 mg/100 g). This plant is propagated through stem cutting, which is time-consuming and diseases are transmitted to the next generation. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a micropropagation system for the production of huge number of healthy plants to fulfil the demand of farmers as well as industrial utilization. The present study reports a reproducible micropropagation system for purple flesh sweet potato var. 'Bhu Krishna' using mature nodal explants on Murashige and Skoog's (1962) medium fortified with various plant growth regulators (PGRs). Maximum shoots regeneration was observed on MS medium fortified with 2.0 mg/l meta-Topolin. In vitro nodal segments were excised from established shoot cultures and inoculated on the above said optimum medium to produce more shoots (ca. 1300 shoots). In vitro regenerated shoots were successfully rooted on half-strength MS medium augmented with 0.5 mg/l Indole-3-butyric acid. The micropropagated plants were acclimatized on soil, coco peat, and sand (1:1:1) and about 95% of plants survived. Finally, these plants were transferred to the field. The genetic unifomity and phytochemical analysis of micropropagated plants vis-a-vis mother plant were demonstrated using Inter Simple Sequence Repeat markers and spectrophotometric method, respectively. The therapeutic activity in terms of anticancer activity of tubers of micropropagated plants with the mother plant was also tested. For the first time we are reporting a detailed micropropagation system for purple flesh sweet potato var. 'Bhu Krishna' for its mass propagation to fulfil the demand of farmers as well as industries. (c) 2024 SAAB. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.