Enzyme fingerprint analyses in tissue regenerated from anther culture of maize

The objectives of our studies were to investigate the effect of cold pre-treatment duration and the effect of two different culture media (YP and N6) on maize anther culture response in two maize genotypes (A 18 and A 19) and to identify the gametic origin of the maize regenerants. Androgenic induction and callus formation was compared in anther cultures following pre-treatment applied to both media tested and with both maize genotypes. Higher plant regeneration was observed in case of YP media independently of the genotype used. The best results were achieved when 12 days (genotype A 18) or 14 days (in case of genotype A 19) cold pre-treatment at 10°C was applied. We have tested the possibility of using enzyme isoform analyses to identify the microspore origin of calli and plants derived from anther cultures. The 11 enzymes tested in our experiments were acid phosphatase, alcohol dehydrogenase, catalase, diaphorase, β-glucosidase, glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, phosphoglucomutase and phosphoglucoisomerase. Analysis of malate dehydrogenase proved the gametic origin of the calli initiated and of the DH plants regenerated from anther culture, when the coleoptile of the donor plant material showed two forms of enzyme 3/6 and the analysed calli showed only one of the two forms (3 or 6).