Abstract
THE AIM of present study was to produce healthy friable calli from soybean cultivar Giza 111 and studying the effect of sodium azide (SA) and ethidium bromide (EtBr) mutagens on its fatty acids (FAs) profile. Seeds were surface sterilized with clorox and ethanol, then cultured on solid Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) to produce 14-days-old in vitro plantlets. Callus induction from hypocotyl (H), cotyledon (C), epicotyl (E) and leaf (L) explants were tested using different combinations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acids (2,4-D) and N6-benzyladenine (BA). M4 (MS+0.5mg/L BA) medium was found to be the supreme medium for callus proliferation. Both H-and E-explants were the best explants for this proliferation. Growth dynamics of H-and E-calli was established. The best harvesting time for both calli was the 4th week. H-calli were the most rapidly growing one. The concentrations 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5mM of each mutagen with two soaking times (1/2 and 1hr) were used for the treatment of H-calli. After mutagenic treatment, treated-H-calli were cultured on callus induction media. A month later, FAs profiling of mutated and control H-calli were performed using gas liquid chromatography (GLC). The Fw pattern of SA and EtBr-treated-H-calli were similar to the control one but with lower values. Saturated (SFAs) and unsaturated-fatty acids (UFAs) contents were raised up by increasing the concentrations of SA and time of incubation. In EtBr-treated-H-calli, marked elevations of SFAs over UFAs were recorded exhibiting a switch in their balance by increasing concentrations and soaking times.