History of plant tissue culture

Abstract

Plant tissue culture, or the aseptic culture of cells, tissues, organs, and their components under defined physical and chemical conditions in vitro, is an important tool in both basic and applied studies as well as in commercial application. It owes its origin to the ideas of the German scientist, Haberlandt, at the begining of the 20th century. The early studies led to root cultures, embryo cultures, and the first true callus/tissue cultures. The period between the 1940s and the 1960s was marked by the development of new techniques and the improvement of those that were already in use. It was the availability of these techniques that led to the application of tissue culture to five broad areas, namely, cell behavior (including cytology, nutrition, metabolism, morphogenesis, embryogenesis, and pathology), plant modification and improvement, pathogen-free plants and germplasm storage, clonal propagation, and product (mainly secondary metabolite) formation, starting in the mid-1960s. The 1990s saw continued expansion in the application of the in vitro technologies to an increasing number of plant species. Cell cultures have remained an important tool in the study of basic areas of plant biology and biochemistry and have assumed major significance in studies in molecular biology and agricultural biotechnology. The historical development of these in vitro technologies and their applications are the focus of this chapter.

Breeding in peach, cherry and plum: from a tissue culture, genetic, transcriptomic and genomic perspective

“…Tissue culture is the aseptic culture of cells, tissues, organs or whole plants under controlled nutritional and environmental conditions (Thorpe, 2007). It is based on: i. the genetically…”

“…the capacity of plant cells to modify the response which allows them to respond to external stimuli directed towards the achievement of a determined response (cell plasticity) (Thorpe, 2007). There is considerable variation regarding the physiological behavior of plant tissues under in vitro culture conditions and this variation is often associated with genotype-dependent responses.…”

“…In vitro propagation is probably the most extended application of plant tissue culture in plants (Thorpe, 2007). It may be interpreted as a simple application of basic techniques to propagate plants under aseptic and controlled conditions; however, the reality is very diff erent because there are several diffi culties associated with optimal tissue culture propagation of any species.…”

Micropropagation of Avocado (<i>Persea Americana</i> Mill.)

“…In the modern research sphere, micropropagation is an essential part of clonal propagation, transgenic plant generation, germplasm preservation, plant breeding and novel variety development [28]. Nevertheless, direct application of micropropagation as a mass propagation tool for economically important plants have gained the most attention due to several reasons.…”

Characterization of Plant Functions Using Cultured Plant Cells, and Biotechnological Applications

“…They are also used as a platform to establish genetic transformation and in the production of useful low-molecular-weight metabolites such as shikonin and paclitaxel. 1) On the other hand, the use of plant cell cultures in the basic characterization of plant functions is rather limited due to the poor differentiation of cellular functions in cultured cells. Only a limited number of plant cell cultures, including tobacco BY2 cells, are used to characterize plant biochemistry and the physiology of basic processes in the cell cycle and cytoskeleton formation.…”