Mass production of Siberian ginseng plantlets through large-scale tank culture of somatic embryos

Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus) is an endangered medicinal woody plant that is distributed throughout the cold regions of northeast Asia. Its propagation is very difficult. In the present article we describe the mass production of Siberian ginseng plantlets by large-scale tank cultures. High-frequency somatic embryogenesis was achieved through suspension culture of embryogenic cells in Murashige and Skoog (MS) liquid medium lacking 2,4-D. About 12,000 embryos were produced per 500-ml flask after 4 weeks of culture. Cotyledonary somatic embryos were germinated, and these converted into plantlets following a pretreatment of the embryos with gibberellic acid (20 µM) and subsequent transfer to a 10-l plastic tank. Low-strength MS medium (1/5-, 1/3-strength) was more effective than its full-strength counterpart for the production of plantlets. After 40 days, an initial 35-g inoculum of embryos was converted to 567 g fresh mass of plantlets in 1/3-strength MS medium. This result indicates that an efficient protocol for the mass production of Siberian ginseng plantlet can be achieved by tank culture of somatic embryos. The Siberian ginseng plantlets produced can be used as a source of medicinal raw materials.