4.1. Fluazifop-P-butyl toxicity to embryogenic calli
Embryogenic calli induction was achieved as previously described starting with seeds followed by disinfection with 4% (v/v) NaOCl and water [14]. The calli induction media was composed of mineral salts and vitamins as described by Murashige and Skoog (MS), with 20 gL−1 sucrose, 0.1 gL−1 hydrolyzed casein and 2.5 mgL−1 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The pH was adjusted to 5.8 with 1 N NaOH or 1 N HCl, and 5.4 gL−1 Gelzan® was added as a gelling agent.
To determine the median lethal dose (LD50) of fluazifop-P-butyl, 200 calli per treatment were subcultured into 0, 1, 10, and 100 mgL−1 fluazifop-P-butyl in basal regeneration medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L−1 NAA + 3 mg L−1 6-BA. All previously mentioned chemicals were supplied by Phytotechnology Laboratories® (Shawnee Mission, KS, USA). An autoclave (1.2 ATM. cm−2 and 121 °C for 30 min) was used for the sterilizing medium and further dispensed on 94 × 16 mm vented polystyrene Petri dishes (Greiner Bio-One, Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) in a laminar flow chamber. Calli browning rates (brown or necrotic/total calli) were recorded as response variables and analyzed in a completely randomized design with a generalized linear model with a Poisson distribution and logit link function. Lethal doses were calculated using probit analysis on IBM SPSS version 27 [35] based on calli browning rates.
4.2. Fluazifop-P-butyl toxicity to vitroplants
The determination of the toxicity of fluazifop-P-buty for vitroplants was calculated based on regenerated vitroplants from embryogenic calli as described next. Embryogenic calli obtained as described in 4.1 were transferred to regeneration medium as described by Sudhakar et al. [36] and were constituted by MS mineral salts and vitamins, 20 gL−1 sucrose and 0.3 gL−1 hydrolyzed casein supplemented with 0.5 mg L−1 NAA + 3 mg L−1 6-BA. To determine the median lethal dose (LD50), the 42-day regenerated vitroplants were subcultured into regenerated plants containing 0, 1, 4, 5, 10, 25 and 100 mg L−1 fluazifop-P-butyl. After adding the growth regulators NAA and BA, the pH was adjusted to 5.8 with 1 N NaOH or 1 N HCl, and 5.4 g L−1 Gelzan® (Phytotechnology Laboratories®, Shawnee Mission, KS, USA) was added as a gelling agent. All previously mentioned reagents were supplied by Phytotechnology Laboratories® (Shawnee Mission, KS, USA). After properly dissolving the gelling agent, 60 mL of media was dispensed on 475 mL polypropylene WNA Deli Containers supplied by Phytotechnology Laboratories® (Shawnee Mission, KS, USA), and afterward, media was sterilized at 1.2 ATM.cm−2 and 121 °C for 30 min. Necrotic plants were considered dead after transplanting into fresh medium with no fluazifop-P-butyl for 100 days and remained necrotic. Lethal doses were calculated using probit analysis on IBM SPSS version 27 [35] based on calli browning rates.
4.3. Gamma irradiation of embryogenic calli
Embryogenic calli irradiation was achieved at 60 Gy with an Ob-Servo Ignis type gamma irradiator with 24 cobalt 60 source pencils (Institute of Isotopes Co, Ltd., Budapest, Hungary). We tested 1000 embryogenic calli exposed to 60 Gy and transferred them to basal regeneration medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L−1 NAA + 3 mg L−1 6-BA. A total of 8000 regenerated vitroplants were exposed to the same medium containing 5 mg L−1 fluazifop-P-butyl for 21 days. The putative tolerant vitroplants had 21 days of recovery in medium with no selection agent, followed by another round of selection of a higher dose of 10 mg-L fluazifop-P-butyl. The tolerant plant was taken to the greenhouse for acclimatization, grown until the 3-5 leaf stage and exposed to 150 ml/L spray fluazifop-P-butyl to validate tolerance, similar to Liu et al. [21].
4.4. Gamma irradiation of seeds
Seed irradiation was achieved at 0 to 500 Gy with an Ob-Servo Ignis type gamma irradiator as described above. We tested 100 seeds per dose, followed by callus induction and regeneration as described previously. Selection of the putative mutants was performed as described in 4.3.
4.5. Molecular markers
A NucleoSpinTM Tissue Kit Macherey-Nagel (Düren, Germany) was used for DNA extraction from 1 mg of nonirradiated lyophilized leaf tissue of Lazarroz FL. Thermo Fisher K1071 (Vilnius, Lithuania) was used for the subsequent PCR following the recommendations of the manufacturer. The primers used in this study are as follows: for 1844 bp amplification of ACC2 Exon 32, ACC2-DF 5′-GGATCATTTGGCCCAAGGGA-3′ and ACC2-DR 5′-AGGGCTTGCAAATCTGAGCT-3′; for 1465 bp amplification of ACC2 Exon 32, ACC2-F 5′-GTGCTCGAATTGGCATAGCAG-3′ and ACC2-R 5′-CGTGATTCTTCCCAGTCCACA-3′. The PCR master mix consisted of a mixture (50 μL) containing 1X Dream Taq Master mix Thermo Fisher (Vilnius, Lithuania), 20 μM of each primer, and 5 μL of DNA (50 ng/µL). The thermocycling program was 95 °C for 5 min, 40 cycles at 95 °C for 45 s, 55 °C for 100 s and 72 °C for 1 min, and a final cycle of 72 °C for 7 min.
PCR and sequencing of the matK and rbcL genes of the mutants were performed as reported for the control sequences MZ558335 and MZ558334 [14].