Clonal in vitro propagation of peat mosses ( L.) as novel green resources for basic and applied research.

As builders and major components of peatlands, (peat mosses) are very important organisms for ecosystems and world's climate. Nowadays many species as well as their habitats are largely protected, while their scientific and economic relevance remains considerable. Advanced methods of in vitro cultivation provide the potential to work in a sustainable way with peat mosses and address aspects of basic research as well as biotechnological and economical topics like biomonitoring or the production of renewable substrates for horticulture ( farming). Here, we describe the establishment of axenic in vitro cultures of the five peat moss species Wils. and Hook., Brid., L., Wils. and Russ. and Warnst. with specific focus on large-scale cultivation of in bioreactors. Axenic, clonal cultures were established to produce high quantities of biomass under standardized laboratory conditions. For advanced production of we tested different cultivation techniques, growth media and inocula, and analyzed the effects of tissue disruption. While cultivation on solid medium is suitable for long term storage, submerse cultivation in liquid medium yielded highest amounts of biomass. By addition of sucrose and ammonium nitrate we were able to increase the biomass by around 10- to 30-fold within 4 weeks. The morphology of in vitro-cultivated gametophores showed similar phenotypic characteristics compared to material from the field. Thus the tested culture techniques are suitable to produce material for basic and applied research.