Plant tissue culture and its application
Plant tissue culture – origin and techniques
Plant tissue culture
Growing the plant cells, tissues and organs on a artificial, synthetic medium under controlled conditions is called plant tissue cultures.
Plant tissue culture has become a major thrust area in plant biotechnology.
Concept
The basic concept of plant tissue cultures is totipotency, differentiation, dedifferentiation and redifferentiation.
Totipotency
The inherent potential of any living plant cell to develop into entire organism is called totipotency. This is unique to plant cells.
Differentiation
The meristematic tissue is differentiated into simple or complex tissues.
Dedifferentiation
Reversion of mature tissue into meristematic state leading to the formation of callus is called dedifferentiation.
Redifferentiation
The ability of the callus to develop into shoot or root or embryoid.
The origin and development of plant tissue culture
The beginning of plant tissue culture was made as early as 1898, when a German Botanist G. Haberlandt successfully cultured individual plant cells, isolated from different tissues.
But only during 1934 to 1939, a foundation of plant tissue cultures was laid down by three scientists (Gauthret, White and Nobecourt) due to discovery of plant growth regulators such as auxins and vitamins.
During next twenty years (1940 to 1960) a variety of growth regulator such as cytokinins were identified for their effect on cell division, growth and differentiation.
After 1960, in vitro culture of plant cells, tissues and organs was reasonably well developed.
Research in this area was initiated in early 1960s by Prof. P. Maheshwari and Prof. S. Narayanaswamy at the Department of Botany, University of Delhi in India.
Consequently, media and culture techniques for a variety of plant materials became known, which are now extensively utilised in all areas of plant improvement programmes.
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Other links
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Transgenic plants – Herbicide resistance in transgenic plants
Practical application of genetic transformation
Basic techniques of plant tissue culture
Status of tissue culture technology in India And application
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