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Tissue culture |
Tissue culture is a technique in which plant material is grown artificially controlled environment. There are several benefits of plant tissue culture with few drawbacks. The article will explain the process of plant tissue culture so you can know how to perform tissue culture in the laboratory. Various types of plant tissue culture are also discussed in the article.
Tissue culture
Tissue culture is a technique in which plant material is grown in an artificially controlled environment. Segments of tissue are used as a medium and developed in a particular media to produce complete plant tissue.
In the tissue culture technique, a plant cell can divide infinitely and differentiate into other types of plant cells
under controlled environment conditions. In this technique, plant growth is
governed by two characteristics of cells, totipotency, and flexibility. In the case
of totipotent, plant tissue is reproduced and developed into the whole plant. Under
in vitro circumstances, a plant cell can change its metabolic
rate and development.
Fragments of plant tissue are known as explants such as the root. callus, leaf, stem cells, embryo culture, meristem, seed, etc. are grown in the laboratory and
cultured using agar and broth media. In other words, this technique is also
known as micropropagation.
Benefits of Plant tissue culture
Plants with desired traits can be created by altering their genetic makeup. Pant tissues undergo the process of regeneration through the tissue culture technique and produce similar copies of themselves. The following are the benefits of tissue culture:
- It aids in increasing crop yield and enhancing food production.
- A relatively minute amount of plant tissue is required to initiate the process for the first time and the process could be completed in a short interval of time.
- The plants which are produced are disease-free and virus-free plantlets.
- The procedure requires less space and could be performed in any season. It’s not a seasonal technique.
- On a commercial scale, this method aids in producing a novel variety of subspecies. Ornamental and complex plants can be grown by this method as compared to traditional methods.
Drawbacks of Tissue Culture
Tissue culture is an expensive technique and
requires a lot of work to do.
The pant produced through tissue culture has a
chance to be less resistant to diseases due to the conditions which are provided for the
growth are not much favorable.
If the plant material is not screened before
culturing then the new plant would become infectious.
The probability of results of this method is less.
If the right steps are performed, there is still a chance that a chemical reaction will take place which damages the explant.
Process of Plant tissue Culture
The process of tissue culture is performed in laboratories to regenerate a complete plant through small segments of plant cells.
Preparation of Sterilized Culture
The seedlings are prepared for culturing at this
step. Before inoculating in a growth medium, explants are first prepared and
chemically sterilized. The explant is disinfected with an anti-microbial agent and
kept in a media that contains nutrients, growth regulators, vitamins, and
carbohydrates. The culture media is inoculated at room temperature either in a dark or constant sunlight environment.
Initiation Process
After incubating for several weeks callus is formed. The terminal part of plant tissue is known as the callus. A callus is removed and placed on
sterilized media that contains artificial nutrients under controlled
environmental conditions. The callus is transferred to a new medium known as the multiplication
medium.
Multiplication Process
The sterilized ex-plant is introduced to a medium that
provides nutrients and growth regulators. This results in a plant cell dividing.
Sub-culturing is necessary to preserve callus or tissue because, with the passage of time, some nutrients in the culture medium get depleted.
Root Formation
A callus is
placed in suspension culture which is nutrient-rich and is provided with growth
hormones known as auxins. The callus transferred to agar gel media grows and
proliferates root formation.
Shoot Formation
The roots are separated out before placing in a new
medium and are provided with plant growth hormones known as cytokinins which
encourage shoot formation.
Plantlets are acclimatized and transferred to the soil
The callus separates into small plantlets which have
both roots and shoots. This technique develops plantlets through a tiny amount of
plant tissue. In vitro, plants are susceptible to disease and pathogen
attack. The plantlets are hardened to prevent them from stress, humidity, and
other infections, and then transferred to the open field or soil, so they could
develop into a mature plant.
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| Process of Plant tissue culture |
Types of Plant tissue culture
There are many types of plant tissue culture but the most commonly used in tissue culture techniques are:
Seed Culturing
An embryo is removed from a living cell and developed
in in-vitro conditions. Seeds that do not germinate are immature seeds and
seeds which through germination produce ripe seeds are mature seeds.
Callus Culturing
A callus is an undifferentiated cell mass. Any
section of plant material can be taken for callus culture and grown under in
vitro conditions. The callus culture is produced when the plant tissue is grown
in appropriate agar media.
Organ Culturing
Any plant organ such as root, leaf, or stem, may be
used as an explant to maintain its structure and capabilities. Several
techniques can be utilized for organ culture including agar, gel, raft, plasma
clot, and grid techniques.
Pollen Culturing
The anther is present in the pollen region of the male reproductive flower. These pollens represent the desired trait and gene of interest. During culturing, pollens are placed in a sterilized agar media to create a whole plant through the tissue culture technique.
Plant Protoplast Culturing
Plant protoplasts are cells that do not have a cell
wall. In this technique, the plant cell wall is destroyed mechanically or
enzymatically. The cell wall is then disinfected with chemicals, and placed in an
appropriate media under controlled conditions where it develops into a complete
pant. Different stages can be seen during protoplast culturing including cell
wall formation, cell division, and pant rejuvenation.
Embryonic Culturing
Gymnosperm and angiosperm shoot apical meristem are
cultivated to develop into a whole plant that would be free of diseases. In
this technique, mature and premature embryos are grown in an artificial medium
which will result in the development of roots and shoot of the plant.
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