Corn starch as an alternative gelling agent for plant tissue culture

Abstract

Growth and differentiation of plant cell cultures was increased when media were gelled with corn starch instead of agar. Dry weight of tobacco and wild carrot cell cultures on media gelled with starch was more than three times that of cultures on media gelled with agar. Higher yield of anthocyanin and dry weight of embryos were found in wild carrot cultures grown on media gelled with corn starch. The starch-mediated increase in growth and differentiation of wild carrot cells was accompanied by an increase in density of the cultures shown by higher dry weight/fresh weight ratios. © 1988 Kluwer Academic Publishers.