Advances in Plant Cell and Tissue Culture in China

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the advances in plant cell and tissue culture in China. Plant cell and tissue culture is an old as well as a new area of research in biological sciences in China. Much progress has been made in plant anther culture, including development of media, standardization of culture conditions, and determination of the response of genotypes to anther culture. In more than a dozen species, pollen culture-derived plants were first obtained by Chinese scientists. Emphasis has been placed on using anther culture techniques in crop plant improvement. It is possible to generate plants through pollen culture of winter and spring wheat varieties as well as their hybrid combinations. It is valuable and beneficial to develop corn inbred lines through anther culture. The investigations revealed that the progenies of tissue and anther culture-derived plants of crop species are highly stable. Cell cultures are used as means of obtaining variant strains. Investigations on selection of mutants at plant cell levels got under way in China. A number of economically important plants, including seaweeds, have been propagated through tissue culture in China. In addition, many drug-producing plants have also been cloned in vitro .Some fundamental problems, such as androgenesis of Gramineous species in anther culture and albinism of pollen culture-derived plants are also discussed in the chapter.