ABSTRACT
Plant cell and tissue culture is the cultivation of plant cells, tissues and organs under aseptic conditions in controlled environments. Whilst at one time the techniques of plant cell and tissue culture were the preserve of specialists in the field, culture methods are now well established and widely used in many areas of research and commercial plant science. The development of plant and tissue culture as a fundamental science was closely linked with the discovery and characterization of the plant hormones, and has facilitated our understanding of plant growth and development. It has long been known that many plants show the ability to regenerate tissues and organs and to reproduce vegetatively. The possibility of culturing individual plant cells in liquid media, and thus allowing the application of standard microbiological methods to their study, was one of the objectives of early work on plant cell cultures.
