3 Dec 2020

Aloevera Tissue Culture

Anjali Singh, MS

As a content and community manager, I leverage my expertise in plant biotechnology, passion for tissue culture, and writing skills to create compelling articles, simplifying intricate scientific concepts, and address your inquiries. As a dedicated science communicator, I strive to spark curiosity and foster a love for science in my audience.

Table of Contents

Aloe Vera is an important medicinal plant grown worldwide for its health benefits. It’s rich in bioactive compounds responsible for its medicinal activities. Aloe vera is a succulent plant grown in dry, arid regions (desert areas). The medicinal properties make it popular among growers of various sizes, ranging from  common gardeners to giant pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries growing on a large-scale.

In this article, you are going to learn some unknown facts about aloe vera and how it’s grown inside the lab for large-scale propagation.

About Aloe Vera

Aloe vera is a strong rooted, perennial succulent grown in desert areas. Aloe vera has the potential of developing to 1.5 meters in height as well. The plant is native to the south-west Arabian Peninsula but naturalized to all different continents worldwide. The leaves are thick, fleshy, and whitish-green on both sides and contain serrated or spiny teeth like margins crowded in basal rosettes. The pendulous flowers are produced on dense raceme spikes in the summer with yellow, tubular corollas approximately 2-3 cm long.

Figure: The pendulous flowers of Aloe vera growing in dense racemes.

The varieties of the Aloe vera include A. barbadensis Mill, Aloe indica Royle, Aloe perfoliata L. var. vera, and A. vulgaris Lam. It is commonly called by names like Indian aloe, Chinese aloe, True Aloe, Barbados Aloe, etc.

Classification: The aloe vera plant belongs to the Class: Liliopsida (Monocotyledons), Order: Liliales, Family: Liliaceae, Genus: Aloe.

Medicinal Properties of Aloe Vera

What makes the Aloe vera a medicinal herb? The Aloe vera leaves contain gel-like substances that contain several medicinal compounds. These compounds include antioxidant vitamins (A, C, and F), niacin, riboflavin, and folic acid, and are used as a laxative, anthelminthic and uterine stimulant. The gel has been widely used in the ayurvedic system of medicines, treating various skin diseases, burns, wounds, and other diseases.

Tissue Culture Propagation of Aloe Vera

Conventional techniques are not useful to grow aloe vera to meet industrial demands. This is due to low seed viability, germination rate, limited availability of high quality raw material, and slow vegetative growth. The tissue culture technique is the best alternative to produce aloe vera on a large-scale and conserve this valuable medicinal plant.

The method to culture Aloe barbadensis using the leaf explant is explained below.

Materials Required

Leaf explants (starting material) of Aloe vera, 0.1 % (w/v) mercuric chloride, sterile distilled water, agar, Murashige, and Skoog (MS) media, NaOH, HCL, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP: 0–3.0 mg/l), 1-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA: 0.25–0.5 mg/l), 40 mg/l adenine sulfate, 2 % (w/v) sucrose, plastic pots, soilrite, soil mixture of soil, sand and, dry cow-dung manure (1:1:1, v/v/v), culture vessel, and sterilized knife.

Method

1. Collect the leaf explant of the plant.
2. Surface sterilize the leaf explant with 0.1 % (w/v) mercuric chloride for 20 minutes followed by washing with distilled water with three changes of water.
3. Trim the explants into small pieces of (~0.5 cm2).
4. Culture the explant aseptically into culture vessels containing agar solidified media supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP: 2.0 mg/l), 1-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA: 0.5 mg/l), and 40 mg/l adenine sulfate for shoot regeneration followed by shoot elongation.
5. Adjust the pH of the media to 8.0 using 0.1N HCL or NaOH.
6. Maintain the culture at a temperature of 25 ± 2 °C, 16 h photoperiod with 3000 lux of light intensity.
7. Maintain the culture environment and nutrients by subculturing at an interval of 4 weeks.
8. Excise the in vitro regenerated elongated shoots when it reaches 3-4 cm in height.
9. Culture the excised shoots on half-strength MS media with 0.5 mg/l NAA and 2 % (w/v) sucrose for root induction.
10. Thoroughly wash the rooted plantlets and plant in plastic pots containing soilrite for 15-17 days.
11. Transfer the plants to a mixture of soil, sand, and dry cow-dung manure (1:1:1, v/v/v) and keep it in the greenhouse for its growth.
12. Spray water at an interval of two days.
13. Regularly examine your cultures.

You can also prefer to use Plant Cell Technology’s featured product the plant preservative mixture (PPM) to sterilize your explants and avoid any kind of contamination from your cultures. We are also helping the culturists and hobbyists in every step of the culturing process. So, reach out to us for any queries at the given email.

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References

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3988330/#CR2
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloe_vera#
3. https://www.doc-developpement-durable.org/file/Plantes-Medicinales-Aromatiques/FICHES_PLANTES/aloes.pdf
4. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257287434...