KNOX genes expression as a marker of the multileaflet trait in alfalfa

Abstract

Plant tissue culture (PTC) has immensely contributed in the field of science for the last 100 years, particularly, in the latter half of the 20th century after the discovery of somatic embryogenesis and other associated findings/techniques. The technique is highly reliable in taping the economic potentials of medicinal and crop plants. PTC also plays a pivotal role in industry, agriculture, and plant breeding as it complements crop production through micropropagation, synthetic seed formation, somaclonal variation, hybridization, genetic transformation, haploid culture, pathogen eradication, and by preserving germplasm. The amendment of biotic, abiotic elicitors in media, precursor feeding, immobilization, the use of bioreactors in synthesizing and enriching phytocompounds and their commercial production in industry has also been highlighted. Besides, the PTC releases the pressure of overexploitation of medicinally important plants growing naturally, by providing the alternative way of production of economical plants or plant parts at large scale in laboratory under controlled conditions. In this chapter, the role of PTC in medicinal and crop plant production and improvement is summarized; the various ways including Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in which the PTC suit to different needs and purpose have also been discussed.