Biochemical Analysis of in Vitro Induced Callus of Cucumis Anguria L

Among the flowering plants, the members of cucurbitaceae are duly useful for human being that is agood source of vegetables and also a better resource for phytochemical compounds. The present study was aimed to induce the callus from in vitro grown seedling explants. The effect of BAP and NAA have been investigated, the combination of BAP and NAA results in the higher callus induction. The callus was further analyzed for biochemical changes at 15 and 30 days of interval. The steep increase in phenol in 30 days callus compared to 15 days old callus, which could be one of the reason for browning of callus. *Corresponding author J. JEROME JEYAKUMAR PG and Research Dept. of Botany, Jamal Mohamed College, Tircuhirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Int J Pharm Bio Sci 2013 July; 4(3): (B) 484 489 This article can be downloaded from www.ijpbs.net B 485 INTRODUCTION Cucurbits are vegetable crops (Cucurbitaceae), comprising of about 130 genera and more than 900 species of which only a few are cultivated (Jeffrey, 1962). In India, a number of cucurbits are cultivated in several commercial cropping systems and also as popular kitchen garden crops. Cucurbits share about 5.6% of the total vegetable production of India and are highly utilized for culinary purposes. The fruits contain rich amount of vitamins, iron and minerals, phosphorous and presents good dietary fiber levels. Recent development in biotechnology has opened up several avenues for cucurbit breeding using genetic transformation, in which heterologous genes can be introduced into existing cultivars (Sorowar et al., 2003). Micro propagation and shoot regeneration protocols for cucumber are required to decrease the cost of hybrid seed production which is usually higher than 30% of total seedling cost (Konstas and Kintzios, 2003). Regeneration of cucumber plants have been reported with limited success either directly or indirectly on various explants (Ziv,1992). Poor development of embryos, low differentiation of callus into shoots and poor survival rate of plants after acclimatization has been reported earlier (Ziv&Gadasi, 1986; Kim et al., 1988; Ziv, 1992). Alsop et al., (1978) obtained only callus from several organ explants with various concentrations of NAA and BAP, each. Aziz et al., (1986) also described bud-like nodules on callus derived from internode pieces of cucumber, but they could induce root formation only. However, callus from cotyledons was characterized by proliferation of fibrous roots whereas callus derived from hypocotyls did not (Novak & Dolezeloa, 1982). Normally in Cucumis anguria, the seed setting and seed germination is low, probably due to the presence of a thin nucellar membrane lending impermeability to water and gases and make them dormant for many days (Devendraet al., 2008).Biotechnological approaches,specifically plant tissue culture plays a vital role in search for alternatives to production of desirable medicinal compounds from plants (Rao&Ravishankar, 2002). The capacity for plant cell, tissue and organ cultures to produce and accumulate many of the same valuable chemicalcompounds as the parent plant in nature, has been recognized almost since the inception of in vitro technology.The strong and growing demand in today’s marketplace for natural, renewable products has refocused attention on invitro plant materials as potential factories for secondaryphytochemical products (Karuppusamy, 2009). In the present investigation, an attempt was made to evaluate the choice of auxin, cytokinin for callus induction and the biochemical analysis (Aminoacids, Protein, Starch and Phenol) of various stages of callus, in order to understand the biochemical changes during the development. We believe that our findings could facilitate the understanding of problems associated with the callus maturity and organogenesis of callus of this commercially important vegetable. It may also helpful to generate reproducible regeneration system in C. anguria and other