Plant Cell Culture – Present and Future

Abstract

Plant cell culture has a long history of development and exploitation that has been reviewed many times [1]. There are also several monographs and textbooks that provide detailed discussion on specific techniques and their application [2, 3]. By necessity therefore, the present review is limited in scope and, for the most part, will focus on recent publications. The various sections below each concentrate on a specific aspect of the technology; these are followed by a summary section relating to commercialization. MicropropagationMicropropagation in vitro is well established as a method to propagate [4], preserve and transport germplasm of many species including horticultural [5-7], medicinal [8, 9] and woody [10,11] plants. It also reduces the risk of moving pathogens and insects with the germplasm owing to the inherent pathogen detection capabilities of aseptic cultures. Since this technology is usually limited to the multiplication of pre-existing meristems and does not involve the regeneration of plants from single cells or tissue, it will not be discussed in detail here.