With breakthroughs in plant tissue and cell culture in the 1980s, there has been a detectable change in attitude amongst researchers. Previously, there have been research successes with sustained cell division in callus culture, cell suspension culture, protoplast fusion and culture and production of somatic hybrids, with micropropagation only a short step away from commercial realization. These were technical "breakthroughs": ie; they had few practical or commercial applications. In the 1980s, there was a greater feeling of optimism, with the success of the integration and expression of foreign genes into plants; this process was more economically viable, but did rely upon the techniques of cell culture previously formulated. Therefore there is a need for continual research into both plant gene manipulation, and the more basic techniques of viable tissue and cell culture maintainance. This book is separated into three sections which deal with the different types of plant cell research. Section 1 deals with the methodology and types of tissue culture system, in addition to "in vitro" mutagenesis methods. Section 2 is concerned with the production of mutant plants or variant cell lines of agrigcultural or industrial interest. Section 3 places cell line selection into the context of other kinds of genetic manipulations and discusses the use of marker genes, such as those encoding for antibiotic resistance, auxotrophs and temperature sensitive mutants.

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