Plant tissue culture

Plant cells, tissues and organs retain totipotency, which is the capacity of a single vegetative cell to reenter a proliferative state, dedifferentiate and regenerate a complete plant. Based on this concept, different micropropagation techniques such as somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis were established, and as a result great advances have been made in basic and applied research in the plant sciences. In the present book, an overview of the historical development of plant cell and tissue culture techniques is presented, the main in vitro culture techniques, the different factors affecting them and their major applications are described, and finally the problems that hamper the widespread use of this technology are highlighted.