ABSTRACT

The term plant b io technology covers a collection o f techniques for the m anipulation of p lant cells, tissues, or m olecules. A s far as plant tissue and organ culture are concerned, the related techniques, involving essentially aseptic culture o f plant parts, have been devel­ oping since the 1940s, w hile the techniques for the m anipulation o f m olecules such as D N A or R N A only becam e available in the last fifteen years, and have been extensively applied to plant research during the 1980s.