Induction of somatic embryogenesis in cultured cells of Chenopodium quinoa

A major limiting factor for quinoa cultivation as a grain crop on a large scale are virus diseases, in particularly seed borne diseases. Therefore, a somatic embryogenesis protocol is a necessary tool to produce virus free plants. Somatic embryogenesis offers the possibility of mass production of transgenic plants and therefore can be used easily to study the effect on plants resulting from breeding processes. An in vitro protocol has been developed for somatic embryogensis from calluses and cell cultures of Chenopodium quinoa. Callus was induced from hypocotyl explants within 2 weeks of culture on a modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.45 μM 2,4-D. Calluses were cultured on solid or liquid MS medium and later the development of somatic embryos was observed on both employing the same MS medium without 2,4-D. To our knowledge this is the first report of somatic embryogenesis in Chenopodium quinoa.