Mitochondria-targeted antioxidant provides for enhanced morphogenetic potential in plant tissue cultures

An ability to regenerate plants from tissue cultures is important for biotechnology; however, many species and cultivars a have low morphogenetic potential. Since oxidative stress is one of the factors affecting morphogenesis, we assessed an ability of a membrane-penetrating mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1 to improve plant regeneration from cultured tissues of Zea mays L., Triticum aestivum L., Saccharum officinarum L., Medicago falcate L., and M. glutinosa M.Bieb. SkQ1 at nanomolar concentrations was found to stimulate both the set of morphogenenic structures and their subsequent development with the formation of plantlets of all plant species tested. SkQ1 constituents, dodecylplastoquinone and dodecyltriphenylphosphonium, could also exert stimulatory effects on plant regeneration from morphogenic callus, although these effects were less prominent than that of SkQ1. SkQ1-mediated stimulation was most pronounced (up to sevenfold) for cultured tissues with a low morphogenetic potential. The observed properties of SkQ1 suggest its possible application in promoting morphogenesis in a wide range of genotypes.