OVERVIEW ON THE SPECTRUM OF THE CHROMOSOMAL ABERRATIONS IN LEMON BALM REGENERANTS PROVIDED IN VITRO
DIANA-ELENA MAFTEI University “Vasile Alecsandri” of Bacău, Faculty of Sciences, Dpt. of Biology, Ecology and Environmental Protection; 157 Calea Mărăşeşti Str., 600 115, e-mail: diana.maftei@ub.ro.
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm) is a medicinal plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family. Its therapeutical importance resides in its active principles, mostly on the nervous and digestive systems. There were cytogenetically analyzed several regenerants of lemon balm that were provided in vitro on hormone-free MS medium (control variant), and on its variants enriched with growth regulators (medium variants A2, KN1, BG1). The study of the mitotic index in lemon balm was the subject of a previous scientific paper. The high percentage of cells with chromosomal aberrations depicted in the root meristems of the in vitro regenerated plants confirms, once more, the fact that this culture method is accompanied by a high variability at the cytogenetic level, important for the practical valorization
