Effects of inter-culture, arabinogalactan proteins, and hydrogen peroxide on the plant regeneration of wheat immature embryos

The regeneration rate of wheat immature embryo varies among genotypes, howbeit many elite agriculture wheat varieties have low regeneration rates. Optimization of tissue culture conditions and attempts of adding signal molecules are effective ways to increase plant regeneration rate. Inter-culture is one of ways that have not been investigated in plant tissue culture. Moreover, the use of arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) have been reported to increase regeneration rate in a few plant species other than wheat. The current research pioneeringly uses inter-culture of immature embryos of different wheat genotypes, and also investigates impacts of AGP and H2O2 on the induction of embryogenic calli and plant regeneration. As a result, high-frequency regeneration wheat cultivars Kenong 199 (KN199) and Xinchun 9 (XC9), together with low-frequency regeneration wheat line Chinese Spring (CS), presented striking increase in the induction of embryogenic calli and plant regeneration rate of CS through inter-culture strategy, up to 52.19 and 67.98%, respectively. Adding 50 to 200 mg L−1 AGP or 0.005 to 0.01 ‰ H2O2 to the callus induction medium, enhanced growth of embryogenic calli and plant regeneration rate in quite a few wheat genotypes. At 50 mg L−1 AGP application level in callus induction medium plant regeneration rates of 8.49, 409.06 and 283.16% were achieved for Jimai 22 (JM22), Jingdong 18 (JD18) and Yangmai 18 (YM18), respectively; whereas at 100 mg L−1 AGP level, CS (105.44%), Chuannong 16 (CN16) (80.60%) and Ningchun 4 (NC4) (62.87%) acted the best. Moreover CS (79.05%), JM22 (7.55%), CN16 (101.87%), YM18 (365.56%), Yangmai 20 (YM20) (10.48%), and CB301 (187.40%) were more responsive to 0.005 ‰ of H2O2, and NC4 (35.37%) obtained the highest shoot regeneration rates at 0.01 ‰ of H2O2. Overall, these two methods, inter-culture and AGP (or H2O2) application, can be further applied to wheat transgenic research.