Abstract
Pinellia koreana K-H Tae & J-H Kim is a recently discovered Korea endemic medicinal plant species whose natural habitat is rapidly destroyed by industrial development. Described in this paper are culture conditions for high frequency plant regeneration via bulblet formation from leaf explant cultures of P. koreana. Leaf explants formed white nodular structures and off-white calluses at a frequency of 91.2% when cultured on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L BA and 0.5 mg/L NAA. However, the frequency of white nodular structures and off-white calluses formation was slightly decreased with an increasing concentration of NAA up to 4 mg/L, where the frequency reached 31.7%. Most petiole explants did not form white nodular structures and off-white calluses except the combination treatment of 2 mg/L BA and 2 mg/L NAA. Upon transfer onto MS basal medium, over 90% of nodular structures gave rise to numerous bulblets and developed into plantlets. Plantlets regenerated from bulblets were transplanted to potting soil and grown to maturity at a survival rate of over 95% in a growth chamber. Therefore, the in vitro plant regeneration system of P. koreana obtained in this study will be useful for mass propagation and long-term preservation of genetic resources of P. koreana.
