Transformation and regeneration of plants

Development of procedures in cell biology to regenerate plants from single cells and the discovery of techniques to transfer and express foreign genes to plant cells provided the prerequisite for the practical use of genetic engineering in crop improvement. The essential requirements in a gene transfer system for production of transgenic plants are the availability of a target tissue having cells competent for both plant regeneration and transformation, a method to introduce DNA into cells, a procedure to select transformed cells and a system to regenerate plants from the transformed cells at a satisfactory rate.