Caraway (Carum carvi L.): Anther Culture and Production of DH Plants Caraway.

We describe the production of doubled haploids through anther culture in caraway. Induction conditions for the cultivation of donor plants, anther collection, composition of culture media, and physical induction conditions for embryogenesis have been described. As a result, responsive lines with numerous haploid embryo production were obtained, which after colchicine treatment became fertile. From a practical point of view, two doubled haploid populations are tested under field conditions.

On genetic diversity in caraway: Genotyping of a large germplasm collection.

Caraway (Carum carvi) is a widespread and frequently used spice and medicinal plant with a long history of cultivation. However, due to ongoing climatic changes, the cultivation is becoming increasingly risky. To secure caraway cultivation in future, timely breeding efforts to develop adapted material are necessary. Analysis of genetic diversity can accompany this process, for instance, by revealing untapped gene pools. Here, we analyzed 137 accessions using genotyping by sequencing (GBS). Hence, we can report a broad overview of population structure and genetic diversity of caraway. Population structure was determined using a principal coordinate analysis, a Bayesian clustering analysis, phylogenetic trees and a neighbor network based on 13,155 SNPs. Genotypic data indicate a clear separation of accessions into two subpopulations, which correlates with the flowering type (annual vs. biennial). Four winter-annual accessions were closer related to biennial accessions. In an analysis of molecular variance, genetic variation between the two subpopulations was 7.84%. In addition, we estimated the genome size for 35 accessions by flow cytometry. An average genome size of 4.282 pg/2C (± 0.0096 S.E.) was estimated. Therefore, we suggest a significantly smaller genome size than stated in literature.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP): methods for plant species identification in food.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a DNA-based analytical method that can be used as an isothermal alternative to polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In comparison to PCR, the advantage of LAMP is the possibility to perform the isothermal reaction without any sophisticated technical equipment; only a water bath is needed, and naked eye detection is sufficient. Up to now, an application of LAMP methods for the detection of even closely related plant species in food or feed matrices has not been described, whereas a large number of PCR methods for that topic are cited in the literature. The aim of the study was the evaluation of LAMP-based methods for plant species identification with respect to method parameters such as R(2), LOD, and LOQ. An existing (real-time) PCR method (for the detection of spices) was used for comparison. It could be shown that the developed LAMP methods have potential as alternative strategies to PCR in DNA-based analysis.