Cell and tissue culture of "gelidium" species

IjI q€ll~lum Jl lnJernlltitmol Workshop CELL ANO TISSUE CULTURE OF GELlD/UM SPECIES R.R. Robaina and P. García-Jiménez Departamento de Biología. Universidad de Las Palmas G. C. Campus de Tafira. 35017. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Spain Cell and tissue culture techniques are used for biomass production and genetic improvement of commercial important genus, like Gelidium. To contribute to the techniques for in vitro micropropagation of Gelidium species we have cultivated explants and sporelings, studied the regeneration pattern and the way to bring efficiently laboratory cultures into axenic cultures of Gelidium canariensis and G. arbuscula. In the light of the results obtained, sporulation of surface sterilised sporangia may be a suitable methods to establish axenic cultures in which plant growth and carbon sources, the fundamentals of micropropagation, could be applied in the next future. 22