185th anniversary of the cell theory and modern cell technologies

Abstract

The article briefly reviews the history of the development of the cell theory in the 19th century and analyses the contribution of its authors Theodor Schwann, Matthias Schleiden, and Rudolf Virchow. Particular attention is paid to the development of the cell theory and its practical significance, in particular, the invention in the 20th century and further development of cell technologies. The main characteristics of cultured cells and tissues in vitro as a new experimentally created biological system are presented, and the peculiarities of the establishment of strains of cultured plant cells are discussed. Using plants as an example, the genomic variability of somatic cells is analysed both during ontogeny and in the course of their culturing in vitro. It is assumed that any somatic cell with a living (functionally active) nucleus, when isolated and subsequently cultured in vitro can restore in its offspring, including regenerated plants, the genetic polymorphism inherent in this plant species as a result of dedifferentiation and “somaclonal” variability (the latter is assumed to occur according to the N. I. Vavilov’s law of homologous series in variation). It ispostulated that a plant is a system of cell populations characterised by the plasticity of its gene pool, which is based on genome plasticity of somatic cells, which, in interaction with cellular selection, ensures the adaptability of the plant as an integral organism and creates the possibility of inheritance (transmission to offspring) of adaptive genomic changes acquired during ontogeny. It is concluded that the adaptive traits of an organism are determined by the adaptive changes in the cells, which composed it. The author also examines the main directions of modern cell technologies and their application in crop production, in medicine for the treatment and creation of new organs using stem cells, as well as in the food industry on the example of the development of technologies for the production of artificial meat using animal stem cells, etc. It is concluded that the issue of cell adaptations remains one of the most important and still insufficiently understood issues of modern biology.