Chapter 3 - Bioreactors for Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Cultures

Abstract

Haberlandt [1] first reported plant cell, tissue, and organ cultures in 1902. He separated plant tissues and attempted to grow them in a simple nutrient medium. He was able to maintain these cells in a culture medium for 20 to 27 days. Although these cells increased eleven-fold in the best case, no cell division was observed. Gautheret [2] was the first to succeed in multiplying the cells from the culture in 1934. He used the cambial tissues of Acer pseudoplatanus, Salix capraea, Sambucus nigra. After 15 to 18 months in subculture, cell activity ceased. He reasoned that this inactiveness was due to the lack of essential substances for cell division. He suspected that auxin may have been one of the deficient substances. This compound was first reported in 1928 and was isolated by Kogel in the 1930’s. Addition of auxin to the medium prompted plant cell growth. This finding was reported almost simultaneously by Gauthret [3] and White [4] in 1939. Plant cell tissue and organ culture techniques rapidly developed, and in the mid-1950’s another important phytohormone, cytokinins, had been discovered (Miller, Skoog, Okumura, Von Saltza and Strong 1955) [5]. By 1962 Murashige and Skoog [6] had reported a completely defined medium which allowed the culture of most plant cells. Their medium has now become the mostly widely used medium in laboratories around the world.