Immunological-Cytochemical Localization of Cell Products in Plant Tissue Culture

Abstract

One of the most important objectives of those who work with and study plant tissue cultures is to understand the dynamic cell, tissue, and organ differentiation and development that occur in cultured materials. Numerous laboratories, working on crop species especially, often are concerned with testing scores of different culture media and growing and regenerating plants from hundreds of different species and varieties to overcome recalcitrant growth. The immediate goals of such studies are usually twofold. Large-scale studies can exploit the genetic changes, called somaclonal variation, resulting from the process, per se, of culturing tissue (Snowcroft and Larkin 1982), and can select culture lines with superior qualities of interest (stress tolerance, disease resistance, high yield, improved nutritive qualities, etc.). Such studies also seek to identify efficient tissue culture systems to accommodate genetic engineering of important crops, such as rice, corn, and soybean. Of equal importance to such goals, however, is basic research that seeks to understand the developmental process of embryogenesis in vitro, that is, somatic embryo (embryoid) development in culture, as well as to gain knowledge of cell development of specific cell types within embryoids and callus in culture systems. The purpose of the following descriptions and discussions of techniques is to suggest immunocytochemical approaches to developmental studies that may elucidate the process of cultured cell and embryoid development. Such approaches, by virtue of their specificity and sensitivity, will increase our understanding of cell development, in its multiple aspects, in both cultured and zygotic plant tissues, and, such understanding is neccessary, more specifically, to overcome recalcitrant embryogenesis.