High Uniformity of plants regenerated from cytogenetically variable embryogenic suspension cultures of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch).

Shoot tip explants, callus and embryogenic cell suspensions of Euphorbia pulcherrima have been examined for quantitative variation in nuclear DNA content by means of cytophotometry. Increasing instability was found in calli and cell suspensions from Erlenmeyer flask and bioreactor culture. Nuclear DNA content ranged from 2C up to 32 C. Plants regenerated from embryogenic cell suspensions, however, were highly uniform with regard to phenotype and ploidy level indicating strongly impaired embryogenic potential of polyploid, aneuploid or other genetically altered cells.