Murashige and Skoog medium

Murashige and Skoog medium or (MSO or MS0 (MS-zero)) is a plant growth medium used in the laboratories for cultivation of plant cell culture. MSO was invented by plant scientists Toshio Murashige and Folke K. Skoog in 1962 during Murashige's search for a new plant growth regulator. Along with its modifications, it is the most commonly used medium in plant tissue culture experiments in laboratorium.

As Skoog's doctoral student, Murashige originally set out to find an as-yet undiscovered growth hormone present in tobacco juice. No such component was discovered; instead, analysis of juiced tobacco and ashed tobacco revealed higher concentrations of specific minerals in plant tissues than were previously known. A series of experiments demonstrated that varying the levels of these nutrients enhanced growth substantially over existing formulations. It was determined that nitrogen in particular enhanced growth of tobacco in tissue culture.

Ingredients

Macronutrients

• Ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) 1,650 mg/l
• Boric acid (H₃BO₃) 6.2 mg/l
• Calcium chloride (CaCl₂ · 2H₂O) 440 mg/l
• Cobalt chloride (CoCl₂ · 6H₂O) 0.025 mg/l
• Magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄ · 7H₂O) 370 mg/l
• Cupric sulfate (CuSO₄ · 5H₂O) 0.025 mg/l
• Potassium phosphate (KH₂PO₄) 170 mg/l
• Ferrous sulfate (FeSO₄ · 7H₂O) 27.8 mg/l
• Potassium nitrate (KNO₃) 1,900 mg/l
• Manganese sulfate (MnSO₄ · 4H₂O) 22.3 mg/l
• Potassium iodide (KI) 0.83 mg/l
• Sodium molybdate (Na₂MoO₄ · 2H₂O) 0.25 mg/l
• Zinc sulfate (ZnSO₄·7H₂O) 8.6 mg/l
• Na₂EDTA · 2H₂O 37.2 mg/l

Common organic additives

• i-Inositol 100 mg/l
• Niacin 0.5 mg/l
• Pyridoxine · HCl 0.5 mg/l
• Thiamine · HCl 0.1 mg/l
• IAA 1–30 mg/l
• Kinetin 0.04–10 mg/l
• Glycine (recrystallized) 2.0 mg/l
• Edamine S 1.0 g/l
• Sucrose 20 g/l
• Agar 10 g/l

References

• Murashige T and Skoog F (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 15(3): 473-497.