Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium. Its development has a rich history:


  1. Initial Concepts (19th Century): The foundation of plant tissue culture began with the cell theory by Schleiden and Schwann in the 1830s, which proposed that cells could be totipotent—that is, capable of regenerating into a whole plant.

  2. Pioneering Work (Early 20th Century): In 1902, Gottlieb Haberlandt, known as the "father of plant tissue culture," first attempted to culture plant cells in vitro, though his experiments were largely unsuccessful due to the lack of understanding of nutrient requirements.

  3. Advancements in Culture Medium (1930s-1940s): Significant progress was made by White, Gautheret, and Nobécourt, who succeeded in culturing tissues by developing suitable media with plant hormones and nutrients. Their work demonstrated the importance of auxins and cytokinins for plant growth.

  4. Totipotency and Callus Formation (1950s): F.C. Steward's experiments showed that individual plant cells could form a callus and regenerate into a full plant, demonstrating cellular totipotency.

  5. Commercial Applications (1970s onwards): The development of micropropagation techniques allowed for large-scale cloning of plants, which became commercially important in horticulture, agriculture, and genetic engineering. The application of tissue culture also played a significant role in the Green Revolution and the development of genetically modified crops.

Plant tissue culture has since evolved into a critical tool for plant breeding, conservation, and research, enabling clonal propagation, germplasm preservation, and genetic manipulation of plants.