Gene expression and morphological characterization of cell suspensions of Coffea arabica L. cv. Catiguá MG2 in different cultivation stages

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the quality of cell suspension of Coffea arabica cv. Catiguá at four different ages by morphological and gene expression analysis. For this purpose, cell suspension samples were collected at 30, 45, 60 and 75 days. Morphological analysis revealed the presence of embryogenic regions in all samples, and after 60 days, non-embryogenic regions were also identified. The genic analyses revealed that as the cells were transferred to a new medium a change in both their physical and chemical conditions was noticed that caused stress. The decrease in SERK and BBM genes expression after 75th day may also be due to the non-embryogenic regions, characterized by large, elongated and vacuolated cells that were observed in the periphery of embryogenic regions, starting from 60 days of culture.