Cryopreservation and its effects in coffee-tree (Coffea spp.) culture

Abstract

Coffee is one of the most commercialized beverages worldwide. It is obtained from the fruits of the coffee plant (Coffea spp), a genus that is difficult to conserve because its seeds tolerate a certain amount of desiccation but become sensitive to the low temperatures used in conventional germplasm banks. Hence, the importance of using other methods, such as cryopreservation, which allows for storage over extended periods. During this process, tissues are subjected to different treatments and methods that can cause cryogenic damage and stress. To determine their occurrence and rule out the appearance of genetic variability, various analyses are performed, ranging from morphological to epigenetic. The present bibliographic review was conducted to identify the main research on cryopreservation and its effects on coffee cultivation. The analyses applied to evaluate cryogenic damage were studied at the morphological, histological, physiological, and biochemical levels. The effects detected represent tissue responses to stress caused by this long-term preservation technique. Molecular studies have not been reported so far; thus, it is necessary to continue deepening these analyses to achieve their complementarity, in order to corroborate the genetic stability of the coffee plants recovered from cryopreservation.