Axenic in-vitro cultivation of nineteen peat-moss (Sphagnum L.) species as a resource for basic biology, biotechnology and paludiculture

O_LIThe cultivation of Sphagnum mosses reduces CO2 emissions by rewetting drained peatlands and by substituting peat with renewable biomass. Sphagnum farming requires large volumes of founder material, which can only be supplied sustainably by axenic cultivation in bioreactors. C_LIO_LIWe established axenic in-vitro cultures from sporophytes of 19 Sphagnum species collected in Austria, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Russia and Sweden, namely S. angustifolium, S. balticum, S. capillifolium, S. centrale, S. compactum, S. cuspidatum, S. fallax, S. fimbriatum, S. fuscum, S. lindbergii, S. medium/divinum, S. palustre, S. papillosum, S. rubellum, S. russowii, S. squarrosum, S. subnitens, S. subfulvum, and S. warnstorfii. These species cover five of the six European Sphagnum sections, namely Acutifolia, Cuspidata, Rigida, Sphagnum and Squarrosa. C_LIO_LITheir growth was measured in axenic suspension cultures, whereas their ploidy was determined by flow cytometry and compared with the genome size of Physcomitrella patens. We identified haploid and diploid Sphagnum species, found that their cells are predominantly arrested in the G1-phase of the cell cycle, and did not find a correlation between plant productivity and ploidy. C_LIO_LIWith this collection, high-quality founder material for diverse large-scale applications but also for basic Sphagnum research is available from the International Moss Stock Center (IMSC). C_LI