What are the uses of callus culture?

Callus cultures are used for:

(a) Plant regeneration
(b) Preparation of single cell suspensions and protoplasts
(c) Genetic transformations studies

Write some uses of cell suspension cultures?

The cell suspension cultures are used for:

(a) Induction of somatic embryos/shoots
(b) In vitro mutagenesis and mutant selection
(c) Genetic transformation
(d) Production of secondary metabolites

Define

(a) Explant culture, (b) Callus culture.

Explant Culture- The culture of the plant parts (explants) is known as explant culture. The
explants can be any part of the plant like the piece of stem, leaf, cotyledon, hypocotyls etc.
Callus culture- Callus refers to an unorganized mass of cells, which are generally
parenchymatous in nature. Callus cultures are used for plant regeneration, preparation of
single cell suspensions and protoplasts, and genetic transformations.

What do you mean by in vivo gene banks and in vitro gene banks?

In vivo gene banks have been made to preserve the genetic resources by conventional methods
e.g. seeds, vegetative propagules etc. In vitro gene banks have been made to preserve the
genetic resources by non conventional methods is cell and tissue culture methods. This
ensures the availability of valuable germplasm to breeder to develop new and improved
varieties.

What is the technique of parasexual hybridization?

The parasexual hybridization or somatic cell hybridization offers an alternative for obtaining
distant hybrids with useful agronomic traits (known as somatic hybrids or parasexual hybrids)
which would never be formed in nature through sexual fertilization. The protoplast is isolated
from the two sources and is allowed to randomly fuse with each other. The required fusion
products are selected either through visual selection, biochemical methods, and fluorescent
dyes.

What are the natural secondary metabolites produced from plants?

Plants produce thousands of sophisticated chemical molecules. These include the chemicals
that are required for the plant’s basic metabolic processes such as alkaloids, resins, tannins,
latex etc. Shikonin is obtained from Lithospermum erythrohizon is used as antimicrobial, red
pigment used in lipsticks and dye for silk. Quinine is obtained from Cinchonal officinalis is
used as antimalarial drug.

“The Agrobacterium is considered as Natural Genetic engineer of plants.” Comment.

This bacterium is known as natural genetic engineer of plants since these bacteria have the
natural ability to transfer T-DNA of their plasmids into plant genome upon infection of cells
at the wound site and cause an unorganized growth of a cell mass known as crown gall. Ti
Plasmids can be used as gene vectors for delivering useful foreign genes into target plant cells
and tissues. The foreign gene is cloned in the T-DNA region of Ti – plasmid in place of
unwanted sequences.
What is direct gene transfer? What are the methods of direct gene transfer?

In the direct gene transfer methods, the foreign gene of interest is delivered into the host plant
cell without the help of a vector. The following are some of the common methods of direct
gene transfer in plants:
(a) Chemical mediated Gene transfer- Certain chemicals like polyethylene glycol (PEG) and
dextran sulphate induce DNA uptake into plant protoplasts.
(b) Microinjection- Here the DNA is directly injected into plant protoplasts or cells using fine
tipped glass needle or micropipette.
(c) Electroporation-In this case, a pulse of high voltage is applied for protoplasts/cells/tissues,
which makes transient pores in the plasma membrane which facilitates the uptake of foreign
DNA.
(d) Particle Gun- In this method, the foreign DNA is coated (precipitated) on to the surface of
minute gold or tungsten particles (1-3 micrometer) and bombarded (shot) on to the target
tissue or cells using a particle gun (also called as gene gun/shot gun/micro projectile gun).

What is the specialty of the plant bioreactor?

Plant cells are cultured in specially designed “plant bioreactors” which essentially do not have
a stirrer because plant cells are shear sensitive. In place of stirrer, gas is gently bubbled which
provides stirring as well as meet the demand of a higher oxygen supply.

What is the name of the first genes available for genetic engineering of crop plants for pest resistance?

The first genes available for genetic engineering of crop plants for pest resistance were ‘cry
genes’ (popularly known as Bt genes) from a bacterium Bacillus thuringensis.

1.What are the minimum facilities needed for the development of a plant tissue
culture set up.
2. Give an account of gene transfer methods in plants for the production of
transgenic plants.