Summary
Assessment of the nutritional requirements of cultured plant cells and organs can be simplified by considering separately the inorganic salts, the organic constituents, and the natural complexes of undefined composition.
There appears to be a high degree of constancy in the salt requirements of diverse plants and their organs. The same salt provisions also appear to be satisfactory in the pursuit of a variety of research objectives. The salt requirement usually can be determined by comparing the morphogenic responses of a plant culture to some of the major formulae.
In constrast, the requirements with respect to the organic constituents are not so constant. Some organic compounds serve growth regulatory functions. Close attention should be paid to the hormonal substances, especially auxin and cytokinin. Assessment of hormonal requirements should consider the kinds and interactions of the hormones. Two other organic constituents are generally essential to plant cell and organ cultures: a sugar and the vitamin, thiamin. It is important only that adequate amounts of these two substances are provided. Sucrose has been satisfactory as the sugar in most cases.
Natural complexes of undefined composition should be included in culture media only as a last resort. The form in which the medium is provided and the culture conditions with respect to light and temperature may also influence nutritional requirements.
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This paper was presented during Informal Symposium on “Cell Nutrition in Culture”, Tissue Culture Association Meetings, Los Angeles, June 1972.
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Murashige, T. Nutrition of plant cells and organs in vitro. In Vitro 9, 81–85 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02616004
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02616004