Plant tissue culture techniques

Abstract

Plant tissue culture techniques are essential to many types of academic inquiry, as well as to many applied aspects of plant science. In the past, plant tissue culture techniques have been used in academic investigations of totipotency and the roles of hormones in cytodifferentiation and organogenesis. Currently, tissue-cultured plants that have been genetically engineered provide insight into plant molecular biology and gene regulation. Plant tissue culture techniques are also central to innovative areas of applied plant science, including plant biotechnology and agriculture. For example, select plants can be cloned and cultured as suspended cells from which plant products can be harvested. In addition, the management of genetically engineered cells to form transgenic whole plants requires tissue culture procedures; tissue culture methods are also required in the formation of somatic haploid embryos from which homozygous plants can be generated. Thus, tissue culture techniques have been, and still are, prominent in academic and applied plant science. The techniques demonstrated in these exercises range from simple ones that can easily be performed by beginning students to those done by botany or physiology students. Experiment 1 and 2 employ plant material derived from aseptic seed germinations, while Experiments 3, 4, and 5 use portions of large intact plants. Experiment 1 demonstrates "in vitro" morphogenesis and totipotency and has been used successfully by beginning classes containing both biology majors and non-majors (expected results are presented in Appendix A). The remaining experiments are designed for use by more advanced students. For further reading see Bottino (1981), Butcher and Ingram (1976), Dodds and Roberts (1985), Street (1973), Sunderland and Roberts (1977), and Wetherell (1982).