Development and application of biotechnological methods for obtaining healthy plants of ornamental species

The proposed project refers to development and application of modern biotechnological methods in the production of ornamental plants. Along with classical research related to study of morphogenesis in vitro, the transformation with Agrobacterium vectors will be conducted in view of producing plants with improved characteristics, while special attention will be paid to development and application of cryobiological methods. Nutritive and hormonal factors of morphogenesis in vitro will be studied for the purpose of the efficient regeneration. These researches would standardize the protocols for micropropagation in Chrysanthemum, Impatiens, Iris and Viola, as well as somatic embryogenesis in the cultures Allium and Iris. The emergence of various viral diseases is a major problem in the conventional production of ornamental plants. For this reason, special attention in this project will be paid to the application of modern cryobiological methods and genetic transformations with aim of producing healthy planting material. Since viral infections increase respiration, causing oxidative stress, the project will focus on the clarification of the mechanism of induced resistance of plants to this type of biotic stress. The development of the methods for regeneration, genetic transformation, cryopreservation, as well as studying stress and other physiological processes will contribute to the improvement of protocols for obtaining healthy planting material of ornamental plants.