Developments and prospects for doubled haploid wheat.

Doubled haploid production is a valuable biotechnology that can accelerate the breeding of new wheat varieties by several years through the one-step creation of 100% homozygous plants. The technology also plays important role in studying the genetic control of traits in wheat, in marker-assisted selection, in genomics and in genetic engineering. In this paper, recent advances in androgenesis and gynogenesis techniques, emphasizing predominantly the in vitro culture phase, as well as the emerging innovative approaches in researching and producing wheat doubled haploids are reviewed. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-based genome editing, that allows targeted mutagenesis and gene targeting, is being tested extensively as a powerful and precise tool to induce doubled haploids in wheat. The review provides the reader with recent examples of gene modifications in wheat to induce haploidy.

High frequency direct shoot regeneration from Kazakh commercial potato cultivars.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the third most economically important crop in the world and has a high nutritional value. In this study, the in vitro culture response of four widely grown in Kazakhstan potato cultivars, Astanalyk, Monument Kunaev, Tokhtar, and Aksor, was investigated using stem and leaf explants. Published protocols were evaluated and optimized to develop a more efficient protocol for the regeneration of plants from local potato cultivars in tissue culture, which is a prerequisite to facilitate potato genome modification. The explants were cultured on solid Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with different concentrations and combinations of zeatin, 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), gibberellic acid (GA3), 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). The maximum regeneration was induced from the stem internodal explants. A significant effect of the explant source on direct regeneration was confirmed with statistical analysis. The number of shoots obtained from the internode was 10.0 from cv. Aksor followed by cvs. Tokhtar and Astanalyk. The medium DRM-VIII with 1 mg/l zeatin, 0.1 mg/l IAA and 7.0 mg/l GA3 was considered the best for direct shoot regeneration and multiple shoot formation from all cultivars. To conclude, we outline a protocol for direct plant regeneration from four potato cultivars. Our findings suggest commercial cultivars Astanalyk and Aksor are good candidates for developing the genome-edited plants through direct shoot regeneration.