History of Culture tissue propagation - Research Paper Example

The period ranging from 1940s to 1960s marked the development of the improvements of the existing technologies already used and the new technologies. This led to tissue culture application in areas such as: cell behavior including metabolism, cytology, embryogenesis, nutrition, pathology and morphogenesis; clonal propagation; plant modification and improvement, product formation, and pathogen free plants and germplasm storage. The beginning of the 1990s indicated a continuous expansion in the vitro technology applications to the increasing number of species of plants.

Cell culture has since remained a vital tool in the area of biochemistry and basic plant biology, agricultural biotechnology and molecular biology (Singh & Srivastava, 2006). This paper seeks to discuss the history of plant tissue culture, the development and significant information on plant tissue culture. The idea of tissue culture began as early as 1838 with the theory of the cell by Schwann and Schleiden. The very first approach of an experiment was tried vainly in 1902 by Haberlandt. After the success of Carrel with the animal cells, motivating results were attained on plant tissues in 1934 by Gautheret and the issue was solved independently in 1939 by White, Nobecourt, and Gautheret.

The development of tissue culture was slowed since the new field only attracted few individuals. In 1954 however, the principal chapters of plant tissue culture were opened: there were studies on cell culture, tissue culture, expertness of vegetative propagation and organ formation, improvement of nutrients, growth of substances, application of pathological problems, and efforts to achieve secondary products. In 1966, Guha and Maheshwari initiated the androgenesis, as Kuster’s pioneer efforts on the protoplast fusion was brought about and exhumed innumerable investigations.

Eventually for the last ten years, there has been a true explosion of plant tissue culture and currently