Effect of Three Types of Ion Beam Irradiation on Gerbera (Gerbera hybrida) In Vitro Shoots with Mutagenesis Efficiency

Gerbera in vitro shoots were irradiated using three types of ion beams with different line energy transfers (LETs) to investigate the effective LET and absorbed doses for mutagenesis. Furthermore, genomic mutation analyses were conducted on the obtained mutants. Survival rate analysis showed a lower lethal dose 50% (LD(50)) with ion beams with higher LETs. Trait/morphological mutations exhibited changes in the color and shape of petals and male sterility. Irradiation conditions with the highest growth change and trait/morphological mutation rates in each ion were C irradiation at 10 Gy, Ar irradiation at 5 Gy, and Fe irradiation at 5 Gy, with a range of absorbed dose of around LD(50) to about 10 Gy lower. The highest trait/morphological mutation rate was 14.1% with Ar irradiation at 5 Gy, which was one of the criteria for ion beam irradiation of gerbera in vitro shoots. Furthermore, the genomic mutation in the flower color, petal shape, and male sterile mutants were confirmed by genotype analysis using Genotyping by Random Amplicon Sequencing-Direct technology. This is the first study to report the efficient production of gerbera mutants that could be analyzed. Our findings may lead to more efficient gerbera mutant production and analysis technology.