• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.183-187
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• 1998

Chlorophyll mutants were produced by treating the rhizome of Cymbidium kanran with mutagen, EMS(ethyl methan sulfonate). The germination ratio of Cymbidium kanran seeds was 5.5 times higher when the seeds were treated with ultrasonic treatment for 20 minutes than untreated control. Fifty to sixty percent of the rhizomes became dark brown when they were cultured in a liquid growth medium containing 0.2% EMS for three weeks. When the dark-brown rhizomes were cultured in a solified MS medium, new rhizomes were developed from a part of the old ones. Chlorophyll mutant rhizomes were obtained from a meristem tissue by a subculturing the cuts of these new rhizomes for a year. Of the chlorophyll mutants, a zigzag-striped type of rhizome was dominant and light-yellow and albino ones were also produced. While the zigzag-striped type rhizomes were differentiated into green and striped plant, the light yellow and the white rhizomes produced yellow-striped and albino plants repectively.These results indicate that the EMS treatment on the rhizome is an effective means to induce a chlorophyll mutant. We believe that this method may be useful to produce variegated plants chlorophyll mutants from other orchids.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2011

This study was for developing leaf chlorophyll mutant cultivars of Cymbidium goeringii by ethyl-methanesulfonate(EMS) treatment. Chlorophyll mutant rhizomes were easily produced by 0.2% EMS treatment in this genus. Among the mutants, they became dark brown about 50% of the rhizomes. When the dark-brown rhizomes were cultured in a solidified MS medium, new rhizomes were formed from part of the old ones. Chlorophyll mutant rhizomes were obtained from subcultured meristem tissues of newly-formed rhizomes. The rhizomes were cut and subcultured for a year and then became mutant plants. As the results, they produced 4 kinds of leaf mutant cultivars; zigzag-striped, comb-striped, net-striped, and dwarf types, indicating that the EMS treatment in the rhizome could produce versatile leaf chlorophyll regulating mutants. These results suggest that our method is useful for developing leaf mutant cultivars of this planta which they are estimated as higher commercial values.