As a rare, valuable alpine plant native to the region, the Xinjiang snow lotus grows in areas at least 3,000 meters above the sea level, and with a very low reproductive rate. Recently, CAS researchers made progress in their studies on fast propagations of the plant by tissue culture. The project has passed the evaluation of a panel of experts organized by CAS recently.
Xinjiang snow lotus (
Saussurea involucrata Kar. et Kir.), also known as Tianshan snow lotus, is a flowering alpine chrysanthemum plant with a living cycle up to 5-8 years. It is noted for its high medicinal value in traditional Chinese medicine, finding a wide scope of applications both in clinical practice and in dietary nourishment. Because of it, the wild populations of the plant have been gathered by an increasing number of locals, which has made it one of the most endangered plant species in China. However, its populations from artificial cultivation are often plagued by germplasm degeneration and pests. So it is urgent to develop new methods of man-made and high-speed cultivation for the revival of this precious species.
With the support of the CAS action plan for the development of China's west, a team composed of researchers from the CAS Institute of Process Engineering and the CAS Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry made a systematic exploration of the herb's induced embryogenic callus in bioreactor suspension cultures.
