Daylily Callus Induction and Plant Regeneration

Hemerocallis (daylily) is an important plant deserving the attention of both molecular biologists and gardeners, and even foodies. The daylily has the potential to be a plant genetic model organism. A genetic model organism is an organism suitable for studying a specific trait, disease, or phenomenon.  Several attributes of the genus are of great biological interest. These include the strict control of flower opening and, the precisely regulated floral death by a programmed cell death system. The self-incompatibility system in Hemerocallis is also noteworthy and deserves more attention. The genus is widely cultivated for food, medicinal value, and ornamental interest. We report a daylily in vitro callus culture regeneration system for the potential use in daylily molecular biology and breeding. The callus was induced from in vitro shoots in MS + BA 2mg/L medium; yellow, friable  embryogenic callus were selected and maintained in  BA reduced MS medium (BA 1-0.5 mg/L), and refreshed  every four weeks; the regeneration of the plant occurred when embryogenic calluses were transferred to  MS + BA 0.2 mg/L medium for four weeks. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis showed no somaclonal variation within two cycles of regeneration. Greenhouse flowering testing supported RAPD results.