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Abstract

The genus Lathyrus is best known because it includes a number of wild relatives of the protein pea which, despite being generally neglected and under-utilised, hold considerable potential as a useful genetic resource for the acquisition of interesting stress resistant traits important for a sustainable agriculture. However, also included in this genus are important commercially produced species with a significant ornamental value, among which the sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus L.). Surprisingly though, there are no formal reports on the in vitro propagation of this species and, generally, these are scanty for in vitro approaches with all species of Lathyrus. Here, we describe simple, yet reliable strategies for the culture and multiplication of several landraces and species of Lathyrus including sweet peas.
... were also recognized [79][80][81]. There were also a few reports describing tissue culture methodologies for regeneration and genetic transformation of grasspea [82][83][84][85], albeit with limited success. ...
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Environmental perturbations are persistent threats to sustainable agriculture, and thus recruitment of resilient crops, especially legumes, exhibiting agronomically important traits has become a priority for plant biologists. It is of utmost importance that the neglected and underutilized legumes (NULs) are identified and utilized as source of germane genes and gene-products, through concerted research platforms. In the present article, we analyzed the current status of NULs with specific emphasis to the potent utility of grasspea owing to its unique characters including stress adaptation, nutritional superiority and ease of cultivation. We have highlighted the landmarks in the history of grasspea, delineating the rapid progress achieved in grasspea biology during the past decades. Despite possession of a neurotoxic compound, β-N-oxalyl-L-α,β-diaminopropionic acid (β-ODAP), this neglected legume outshines most food crops with its distinct physicochemical attributes, health and agricultural benefits and resilience to environmental constraints. With the availability of genome sequence, grasspea is now established as an appropriate genetic resource for sustainable agriculture and phytoremediation rendering its genes, proteins and metabolites for targeted genetic manipulation. We conclude that grasspea would serve as a resource for plant translational genomics (TG) research, particularly resilience of legumes to environmental challenges.
... Weber et al. [39] used apical meristems explants of the interspecific hybrids originating from crosses between H. annuus and nine others species of Helianthus, and concluded that a species regeneration capacity was significantly determined by the individual genotype. Variability in the organogenic responses from the axillary buds among genotypes was observed in many other species including Rosa rugosa [72], Vigna unguiculata [73], and Lathyrus sativus [74]. The observed variation in the morphogenetic response among the six tested plants of H. verticillatus warrants future studies for the levels of endogenous PGRs in the context of genotype and stem localization. ...
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... These could be the fi rst steps into the introduction of Ascochyta blight resistance from grass pea into pea (McCutchan et al. 1999;Ochatt et al. 2001Ochatt et al. , 2004Ochatt et al. , 2007, of resistance to rust fungi from L. cicera ), of broomrape resistance from L. ochrus or from L. cicera , or yet of powdery mildew resistance from sweet pea into grass pea (Poulter et al. 2003;Ochatt et al. 2010a). ...
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Grass pea (Lathyrus. sativus L.) is an annual legume crop with high protein content and remarkable resistance to extreme environmental conditions, including fl ooding, drought, salinity and low soil fertility, and a signifi cant degree of resistance to biotic stress agents. It is rightly considered one of the most promising sources of calories and protein for the vast and expanding populations of drought-prone and marginal areas of Asia and Africa and as an interesting alternative for cropping systems diversifi cation in marginal lands in Europe, Australia and America. It is a dual purpose crop with great agronomic potential as a grain and forage legume. Nevertheless, as a result of the little breeding effort invested in it compared to other legumes, grass pea cultivation has shown a regressive pattern in many areas in recent decades. The presence of a neurotoxin proposed to be responsible for lathyrism in humans and animals has also contributed to its abandonment. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the improvement of this high-potential legume species, with the integration of new breeding technology that anticipates great achievements in the development of new varieties.
... Mutagenesis (Biswas 2007) and biotechnology (McCutchan et al. 1999;Ochatt et al. 2001) via in vitro selection (Lambein and Kuo 2004), somatic hybridization (Durieu and Ochatt 2000), gene transfer (Barik et al. 2005) or haplo-diploidization (Ochatt et al. 2009) would permit production of novel grass pea genotypes twinning robustness with better adaptation for human consumption, and introduction of interesting traits from Lathyrus into crossincompatible species such as field pea. On the other hand, Lathyrus odoratus, the sweet pea, is an important ornamental species, but it has seldom been studied in vitro (Razdan et al. 1980;Ochatt et al. 2010). Biswas (2007) has recently reviewed mutation breeding in Lathyrus, where most studies have concerned L. sativus, yielding a wide spectrum of morphological mutations, affecting canopy structure (plant habit, maturity, branching, stem shape, leaf size, stipule shape), flower colour and structure, pod size, and seed size and colour (Nerkar 1976;Biswas 2007;Rybínski 2003). ...
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The genus Lathyrus includes a number of neglected wild relatives of pea with potential as genetic resources for acquisition of stress resistance traits, but, due to little breeding, genotypes under culture are mainly landraces and seldom true varieties. Development of in vitro approaches for Lathyrus is also limited, and assessments of nuclear DNA content, for taxonomical or breeding purposes, are sparse. Genome size and AT/GC ratio were determined by flow cytometry, allowing for distinction between protein and forage L. sativus, L. cicera, L. ochrus and L. clymenum and the ornamental sweet pea (L. odoratus), and also between landraces within L. sativus L. and L. cicera L. In addition, explants from in vitro seedlings of eight genotypes from the five Lathyrus species above were cultivated in vitro, plant regeneration was achieved for all landraces and species, and the nuclear DNA content of the regenerants was compared with that of their mother plants, whereby the true-to-typeness of such regenerants was confirmed.
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Low ODAP somaclones have been evaluated for physiological and biochemical parameters especially in relation to attributes that lead to increased biomass production. All the somaclones during development had substantially lower ODAP content in leaves as compared to parent P24. Considerable variation was observed in relation to leaf width, leaf length, internodal length and leaf area. Somaclone Bio L12 had the highest whereas parent P24 and Bi0164 had the least leaf area. Harvest index was the highest and biomass production was the lowest in the Bio 164. Bio L08 gave the highest seed yield. Photosynthetic rates were also higher in Bio L12, although no significant positive correlation was observed in leaf photosynthesis and seed yield. The differences in physiolpgical and biochemical parameters indicate the possibility of development of high yielding genotypes. The results in present investigation show differences in photosynthetic rate, leaf characteristics, seed yield and ODAP content among somalones and parent. Somaclones with extremely low ODAP content with variability in leaf morphology and photosynthetic rate is indicative of variation induced during plant tissue culture.
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Leaf protoplasts, isolated from three-month old sweet pea plants, entered division, which was sustained with the eventual production of cell colonies. These colonies gave rise to proliferating callus masses.