Plant Tissue Culture
The growing of plant tisues from any part of a plant be it cells, tissues, organs or whole plant on artificial medium.
Micropropagation System
The in-vitro (test-tube) clonal propagation of plants by inducing proliferation of shoots from shoot-tips and axillary buds in an artifical medium; the plants grow in a sterile controlled environment.
Bioreactor System
The use of miniaturised whole plant or somatic embryos in a sterile vessel, usually supplied with nutrient, growth hormones, aeration and agitation for the purpose of multiplication.
Plant Genetic Engineering
Manipulation of genes at the cellular and molecular levels. It is now possible to isolate the genes of interest from one kind of organism incorporating them into another, thus resulting in the permanent change in the genetic make-up of the recipient.
Recombinant DNA Technology
The techniques for recombining genes (as described above) resulting in the production of transgenic plants.
Induced Mutation
The use of chemicals or irradiation with the objective of inducing mutaton in the target plant (cells, tissues, organs and whole plant). The induced mutation are screened for desirable traits and can be used in plant breeding programmes.
Somatic hybridisation
Plant cells cells can be stripped of their cell walls using suitable enzymes. The resultant cells devoid of cell walls are known as protoplasts. Under suitable conditions, a protoplast can be made to fuse with another protoplast of a different species or variety to form a somatic hybrid.