Question

Write a short note on history of plant tissue culture.

Accepted Answer

Tissue culture is the in vitro culture of cells, organs, and tissues in a chemically defined nutrient medium under controlled sterile conditions. The German scientist, Gottlieb Haberlandt was first to culture plant tissue on artificial medium in 1902, and he is known as the father of tissue culture. The early studies of plant tissue culture led to root cultures, embryo cultures, and the first true callus/tissue cultures. W. J. Robbins and W. Kotte in 1922 successfully done the culture of plant root and shoot apex (organ culture). The two important discoveries made in the mid1930s which gave a big push to the development of plant tissue culture technique were: (a) identification of auxin as a natural growth regulator and (b) recognition of the importance of B-vitamins in plant growth. F. W. Went in 1926 discovered the growth hormone Auxin (Indole Acetic Acid).

In 1939, R.J. Gautheret, P.R.White, and P. Nobecourt successfully established the long term growth culture medium. Van Overbeek (1941), coconut milk is used in the culture medium for cell division. It contains certain growth regulators that enhance cell growth and division. The period between the 1940s and the 1960s was marked by the development of new techniques and the improvement of those that were already in use. In 1946, E. Ball developed the whole plant from shoot apex culture. W.H. Muir developed the isolated single cell culture technique in 1954. F. Skoog and Miller (1955) established the need of kinetin (hormone for cell division) in tissue culture technique. J. Rennert in 1959, developed the embryo from the suspension culture of carrot.

In 1960, E. C. Cocking, separated the protoplast of a plant cell by the enzymatic digestion of plant cell wall. It is the most important discovery in tissue culture, it leads to protoplast culture. M.S medium is the most commonly used medium in tissue culture. It was developed by Murashige and Skoog in 1962. In 1964, the Indian scientists, S. Guha Mukherjee and S.C. Maheshwari developed the haploid plant successfully from the culture of anther and pollen grain of the Datura plant. The technique of obtaining haploid plants is used for obtaining pure lines in plants.

J.B. Power in 1970, successfully demonstrated the fusion of protoplast for the first time. Development of somatic hybrid pomato by the protoplast fusion of potato and tomato was done by G. Melchers et al. The first genetically modified plant was produced in 1983, an antibiotic-resistant tobacco plant by M.D. Chilton. Nowadays, the branch of tissue culture has become the most popular and very common technology for commercial production of ornamental, medicinal, and agricultural plants.

	Product	Plant
(1)	Nicotine	Nicotiana tabacum
(2)	Vincristin, Vinblastin	'A'

Write a short note on history of plant tissue culture.

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