Assessment of genetic and biochemical fidelity of field-established Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig regenerated from axenic cotyledonary node on meta-topolin supplemented medium

Hedychium coronarium is an important medicinal plant of Zingiberaceae family and is widely used in cosmetics industry and perfumery. H. coronarium is also the source of a number of valuable secondary metabolites including coronarin D, a compound with immense potential to treat cancer. Therefore, there is an urgent need to ensure sustainable use of this plant. The current study reports an one-step in vitro plant regeneration (simultaneous production of shoot and root) protocol for H. coronarium using axenic cotyledonary nodes by optimizing the type and concentration of plant growth regulators. In this study, meta-topolin (mT) alone was found to be optimum, as compared with other individual cytokinins and combinations of growth regulators. The production of shoot/ plantlets was highest on MS medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/L mT. Axenic shoot segments isolated from these primary shoots/ plantlets were cultured in the aforesaid medium to produce about 4590 plantlets. Around 200 plantlets were used for acclimatization; approximately 93% plantlets were successfully acclimatized and established in field. The genetic fidelity of the micropropagated plants with that of the mother plant was ascertained using Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSR) analysis. Quantitative biochemical and High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) analysis of the micropropagated plant vis-a-vis the mother plant confirmed biochemical similarities. In summary, an efficient plant propagation system was developed for H. coronarium to enable sustainable use of the plant for commercial and conservation purposes.