Applications of Plant Tissue Culture

•  Fundamental biological studies: These can provide a simple, easily manipulated system for investigating a range of phenomena, e.g. the use of cell suspension cultures for studies of cell division.

•  High value biochemicals: Many of the natural plant metabolites are required by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Since environmental conditions can be tightly controlled in vitro, a constant output might be maintained without seasonal variation. Moreover, simplicity of cell culture may allow high yields to be produced at low cost.

•  Plant multiplication by micropropagation: Micropropagation offers a rapid means of vegetative (asexual) multiplication. It is important in those plants which are otherwise difficult to propagate, have a high value or where speed of propagation is important. It can also help to raise disease-free stock of a crop by apical meristem culture where the entire plant is infected with pathogenic bacteria or viruses.

•  Embryo rescue: Hybrid embryos, formed by the fusion of gametes from distant relatives, frequently abort naturally because the endosperm is not compatible with embryo. Under in vitro conditions, in the presence of correct nutritional medium, these embryos can be developed and form a plant.

•  Pollen Culture: The pollen of many species can be induced to develop into entire plant without participating into fertilization process. These plants contain single set of chromosome, as that of gametes, and are haploid in nature. The chromosome set of these haploids can be diploidized by mutagenic treatment like, colchicine, to develop homozygous diploid lines or pure breeding lines. This technique is very useful in case of highly heterozygous tree species with long generation cycle.

•  Production of plants with novel characteristics: The somaclonal or gametoclonal variations induced in in vitro cultures can be utilized to raise new improved varieties which may have of commercial value such as, new flower color, big canopy plants, large sized grains etc.

•  Production of transgenic plants: Characteristics like, insect resistance, that could not be achieved by conventional plant breeding methods, can be transferred from one plant species to another by Agrobacterium- mediated gene transfer or by gene transfer methods like, particle gun method (biolistics), electroporation, microinjection and polyethylene glycol-mediated gene transfer.

•  Protoplast fusion: The protoplasts can be fused to form somatic hybrids. Such fusion products are the result of the union of two or more protoplasts from similar or dissimilar parents.