The key difference between MS medium and B5 medium is that MS medium is a medium used in plant tissue culture for the purpose of organogenesis, callus culture, micropropagation, and cell suspension, while B5 medium is a medium used in plant tissue culture for the purpose of protoplast culture.
Plant tissue culture is also known as in vitro culturing of plant cells. The right selection of media is a crucial step in plant tissue culture. Some popular media used in the plant tissue culture are MS medium, B5 medium, LS medium, NN medium, and White’s medium.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is MS Medium
3. What is B5 Medium
4. Similarities – MS Medium and B5 Medium
5. MS Medium vs B5 Medium in Tabular Form
6. Summary – MS Medium vs B5 Medium
What is MS Medium?
MS medium or Murashige and Skoog medium is a medium in plant tissue culture used for the purpose of organogenesis, callus culture, micropropagation, and cell suspension. This medium was originally invented by two scientists named Toshio Murashige and Folke K. Skoog in 1962. These scientists invented this specific media while working on the discovery of plant growth regulators. MS medium is the most commonly used medium in plant tissue culture laboratories. However, according to recent research, this medium should not be used as a nutrient solution for deep water culture.
Figure 01: MS Medium
Moreover, a number can be observed behind the name MS medium. For example, MS0 means it contains no sucrose. MS10 indicates the presence of 10 g/l sucrose in the medium. MS medium is a formulation of nutrients like inorganic salts, vitamins, and amino acids. The ingredients of this medium include major salts (ammonium nitrate, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, etc.), minor salts (boric acid, cobalt chloride, ferrous sulfate, potassium iodide, etc.), vitamins, and other organic compounds (myo-inositol, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, thiamine, glycine, tryptone, glutamine, asparagine, cysteine, sucrose, etc.).
What is B5 Medium?
B5 Medium is a medium in plant tissue culture used for the purpose of protoplast culture. This medium was first developed by O.L. Gamborg in 1968. He used this medium for the callus and cell suspension of the Glycine max plant (soybean species) belonging to the family of Fabaceae. This medium contains a blend of inorganic salts, vitamins, and carbohydrates. It contains macro-elements (ammonium sulphate, calcium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, etc.), micro-elements (boric acid, cobalt chloride hexahydrate, copper sulfate pentahydrate, potassium iodide, zinc sulfate, heptahydrate, etc.), vitamins, and other organic compounds (myo-inositol, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine HCl, thiamine hydrochloride, sucrose, agar, etc.),
The specialty of this medium is that it has a higher concentration of nitrate and potassium and a lower concentration of ammonia. Furthermore, potassium nitrate is useful in inducing soybean root callus formation, and ammonium sulfate play an essential function in cell growth.
What are the Similarities Between MS Medium and B5 Medium?
- MS medium and B5 medium are two different types of media used in the plant tissue culture.
- Both media was first discovered in the 1960s.
- They are extensively used in in vitro tissue culture laboratories.
- They contain similar nutrient contents like macro elements, microelements, vitamins, and carbohydrates.
What is the Difference Between MS Medium and B5 Medium?
MS medium is used for organogenesis, callus culture, micropropagation, and cell suspension, while B5 Medium is used for protoplast cultures. Thus, this is the key difference between MS medium and B5 medium. Furthermore, the MS medium was invented by Toshio Murashige and Folke K. Skoog while O.L. Gamborg invented the B5 medium.
The below infographic presents the differences between MS medium and B5 medium in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – MS Medium vs B5 Medium
Plant tissue culture is a popular technique of in vitro culturing of plant cells. MS medium and B5 medium are two different types of media used in the plant tissue culture. MS medium is used for the purpose of organogenesis, callus culture, micropropagation, and cell suspension, while B5 Medium is used for the purpose of protoplast culture. So, this is the key difference between MS medium and B5 medium.
Reference:
1. Tran, Nam. “6 Plant Tissue Culture Media for Beginners.” Lab Associates.
2.“Gamborg Medium (B5).” SpringerLink, Springer Netherlands.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Mammillaria sp. (006)” By Juandev – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia