THE CHIMERIC STRUCTURE OF THE APICAL DOME OF CHRYSANTHEMUM (DENDRANTHEMA-GRANDIFLORUM (RAMAT) KITAM) IS AFFECTED BY CRYOPRESERVATION

The shoot tips of a periclinally chimeric cultivar of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflorum (Ramat.) Kitam. cultivar 'Apricot Marble') were excised. loaded with cryoprotectants and cryopreserved. Amongst plants derived from the conventional shoot tip culture, 99% had normal flower color. In contrast, 70% of plants derived from cryopreserved shoot tips had a pink flower color instead of the original apricot. The pink petals contained anthocyanins in the epidermis but lacked carotenoids in the epidermis and mesophyll. These observations indicate that many of the shoots regenerated from thawed shoot tips were adventitious in origin and were derived from the epidermis of the shoot tip.