In Vitro Culture Techniques : The Biotechnological Principles

During the last two decades plant cell, tissue and organ culture have developed rapidly and become a major biotechnological tool in agriculture, horticulture, forestry and industry. Those problems which were not feasible through conventional techniques, now have been solved via these techniques, for example, inter- and intra-specific crosses, micropropagation, somaclonal variation, encapsulated seeds, etc.

To boost up these areas ICGEB in a workshop (held at New Delhi from September 18 to 20, 1985), recommended the need of more research in developing countries on plant cell culture, differentiation, regeneration and transformation in tropical grain legumes, woody legumes and cereals. The emphasis was laid to improve growth under stress condition, pest and disease resistance, improved nutritional quality, nitrogen fixation and the control of partitioning within the plants. A detailed account of plant cells, tissue and organ culture is given in this context.

Totipotency: The Basis of Plant Cell and Tissue Culture
Each living cell, of a multicellular organism, is capable of independent development, when provided with suitable conditions (White, 1963). Morgan (1901) coined the term 'totipotency' to denote this capacity of cell to develop into an organism by regeneration. However, the concept of totipotency is important in tissue culture. Use of multicellular organisms in research, as biological units, is rather difficult; therefore, attempts to study an organism by reducing to its constituent cells and subsequently the cultured cells as basic organism, are of fundamental importance (White, 1963).