Metabolic stability of plants regenerated from cryopreserved shoot tips of Dioscorea deltoidea - an endangered medicinal plant

Shoot tips of Dioscorea deltoidea, a medicinal yam, were cryopreserved using the vitrification and encapsulation-dehydration technique resulting in high-frequency direct plant regeneration. The biochemical stability of the plants derived from cryopreserved shoot tips was assessed using HPLC analysis. The diosgenin content of plants regenerated from cryopreserved shoot tips was found to be same as that of control plants. Thus plants confirming our cryopreservation experimental conditions ensure the biochemical stability of regenerated D. deltoidea plants.