Tissue Culture

The term ’tissue culture’ is commonly used in a very wide sense to include in vitro aseptic culture of plant cells, tissues and organs. It forms an integral part of any plant biotechnology activity. It offers an alternative to conventional vegetative propagation. Tissue culture techniques have also helped in large scale production of plants through micropropagation or clonal propagation of plant species. Small amounts of tissue can be used to raise hundreds or thousands of plants in a continuous process. Tissue culture, in combination with genetic engineering is very useful in gene transfers. Eradication of virus has been an outstanding contribution of tissue culture technology. Cultured plant cells are also known to produce biochemicals like, alkaloids, terpenoids, phenyl propanoids etc. of interest. Tissue culture requires attention-to-detail and unless practised as art and science, the entire process is rather unforgiving. This book is an accessible and up-to-date resource of information on tissue culture. It provides basic knowledge of tissue culture methods such as isolation of suitable tissues, maintenance of tissues under in vitro condition in an undifferentiated stage, methods of genetic engineering and handling of in vitro micro plants. Application aspects of micropropagation, haploid cell culture, protoplast culture, somatic embryogenesis and artificial seeds are also discussed. For those who interested in tissues culture, this book will act as a useful handy reference to understand the basic theoretical and practical aspects.