Tissue Culture and Genetic Transformation in Sesame

Abstract

Plant tissue culture and genetic transformation are powerful biotechniques for plant genetic improvement. For sesame, in vitro callus induction and differentiation with high efficiency are very difficult because of the specific characters of the species, and employing genetic transformation is too difficult. In the past forty years, many scientists tried a huge number of experiments in order to establish efficient callus induction and plantlet regeneration system in sesame. In this section, we present the history and the main progresses of sesame tissue culture and gene transformation research. Several successful examples for plant regeneration and gene transformation in sesame are listed. In addition, the main factors influencing the efficiency of tissue culture, plantlet regeneration, and gene transformation are discussed. The application prospect of tissue culture and gene transformation in sesame genetics and breeding research is also introduced.