To study the functions of sugars in plants, feeding experiment is one of the most common and easy methods. However, the traditional method, e.g., a floating of leaf discs on sugar-containing solution seems to have an insufficient efficiency of sugar uptake, despite of high osmotic and injury effects. This is a protocol to feed oligosaccharide gentiobiose into in vitro cultured tissues of gentian. This protocol enables to incorporate gentiobiose into intact tissues without exposure to osmotic stress and may be useful to other plant species that are able to propagate by shoot tip culture.
Takahashi, H. and Nishihara, M. (2015). Gentiobiose Feeding in Gentian in vitro Overwintering Buds or Plantlets. Bio-protocol 5(12): e1499. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.1499.