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Discipline: Botany
Learning Outcomes
The chapter is aimed to enable the readers to learn about the following:
Function of all these facilities and their importance in context of successful tissue
culture practices.
Introduction
Basic facilities required in a tissue culture laboratory
Washing area
Glassware/Plastic ware
Area for media preparation
Transfer area
Culture room and incubators
Greenhouse
Basic laboratory equipment and apparatus
Summary
Exercise/ Practice
Glossary
References/ Bibliography/ Further Reading
Introduction
Plant tissue culture techniques have played a pivotal role in addressing many questions of
basic and applied fields of plant science. Initially, this technique was used for studying the
roles of hormones in cytodifferentiation and organogenesis. It is now also used for the
functional characterization of genes, elucidation of underlying regulatory mechanisms by
developing genetically modified (transgenic) plants. Due to their intensive use in various
fields of applied plant science, plant tissue culture techniques have also revolutionized the
agriculture sector in modern times. For example, selected plants tissues/cells are cultured
as suspended cells to produce plant products. Additionally, transgenic plants with enhanced
agronomic traits such as high carotenoids (golden rice: Ye et al., 2000) or longer shelf life
(Flavr Savr tomatoes: Redenbough et al., 1992) have been produced. Further, tissue culture
methods also help in developing the somatic haploid embryos. Such somatic haploid
embryos can subsequently be used for the production of homozygous plants. Hence, tissue
culture techniques have played an important role in the progression of academic
and applied plant science.
For the induction of polyploidy, by treating plants with of antimitotic agents such
as colchicine.
To produce virus free plants from virus-infected stock, such as potatoes by culturing
meristem/tip culture.
Figure: Steps involved in tissue culture. A number of tissues can be used as explants
and used for in vitro culture to regenerate whole plants by various methods of tissue
culture.
Figure: A general scheme of plant tissue culture. The figure shows the different steps
involved in plant tissue culture starting from culture of explants on nutrient media, then
callus regeneration, followed by differentiation of callus and formation of a complete
plantlet.
Some of the prerequisite basic facilities for any laboratory, which actively practices the plant
tissue culture methods to grow plants, are:
Washing area
Glassware
Autoclave
Areas for media preparation, sterilization, and storage
Washing area
The washing area is one of the most important places in a laboratory as its use starts even
before the actual start of an experiment and continues till the experiment gets completely
over. This area is mainly used for cleaning and washing of glassware and other items used
in actual experiments, therefore maintenance of its cleanliness is equally important. The
washing area should consist of sinks and proper draining boards. It should also have
provision for production of deionized/double-distilled water. Moreover, it must also have a
specific place to dry the washed glassware/vessels and a storage cabinet to store cleaned
and dried culture vessels.
Glassware/Plastic ware
The glassware is mainly used in media preparation, storage and setting up of the
experiments for growing the cultures. To prevent the contamination/infection in the growing
cultures, the glassware used in tissue culture experiments should be restricted to such
experiments only. Due to their continuous use, sometimes toxic metal ions can also be
absorbed on glassware which can be troublesome in the repeatability of the experiments.
Therefore, glassware should be washed thoroughly with a good laboratory detergent and
rinsed with tap water several times after use. Finally, the washed glassware should be nicely
rinsed with highly purified water to prevent any metal ion absorption. The glassware,
particularly the culture vessels, should be made of Pyrex or borosilicate glass which is
resistant to heat and also is less prone to breakage and scratching. Whereas the large
volume Erlenmeyer flasks are used in the preparation of culture media, the small capacity
flasks (50-, 125-, 250-ml capacity) are mostly used to grow cultures. Additionally, tissue
culture glass jar with poly propylene cap (commonly called jam bottles), test tubes, petri
plates, and magenta boxes etc. can also be used in tissue culture experiments. A number of
presterilized disposable polystyrene culture containers ( Falcon, Corning, Nalgene and Nalge
Co.) are available.
Before the use of any new glassware, it is highly recommended that it is properly washed
with detergent and autoclaved, thereafter. This practice prevents contamination of culture
media. Beakers, volumetric flasks, pipettes, and graduated cylinders are the other
glassware which is commonly required in tissue culture laboratories. Altogether, washing
and cleanliness of glassware determines the fate of a tissue culture experiment as dirty
glassware often lead to contamination of growing cultures when incubated for longer
periods.
Source:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Erlenmeyer_flask#mediaviewer/File:Erlenmeyer_flask_hg.jpg(
cc)
Figure: Photograph of Jam bottles with caps containing tissue culture explants.
Source: http://honorsgenetictechnology2012-1.wikispaces.com/Logen+Casella(cc)
Washing of glassware
1. Immediate cleaning of reusable glassware used in plant tissue culture. Do not allow
media or agar to dry inside the glassware.
4. All labels and marking should be removed from culture vessels prior to soaking.
6. Personnel cleaning the glassware should wear facemask and acid resistant apron and
gloves.
7. Agar remaining in the culture vessel should be melted and collected in sieve and
discarded.
8. Washed glassware should be rinsed with distilled water and dried and stored in dust
proof cabinets.
The area dedicated to media preparation should comprise of sufficient storage space for the
chemicals, culture glassware/vessels etc. Additionally, proper bench space for small
equipment for example: hot plates/stirrers, pH meter, balances, water baths, and media
dispensing equipment should be available. Other necessary equipments which are needed in
media preparation and decontamination include two autoclaves including one for sterilizing
the media before initiation of the experiment and second for sterilization of waste and left-
over materials/cultures/infected media after the experiment, refrigerators and freezers to
store stock solutions, and a convection oven for heating the solidified stored medium.
The preparation of media requires careful weighing of all the components. Even if a
commercially prepared medium is used, care must be taken in preparing it and the stock
solutions that are required.
Only analytical grade (AG) chemicals should be used for preparing culture media. To
minimize the media-originated variations among the biological and technical replicates of
the same experiments, good laboratory practices, including accurate weighing of chemicals
and precise measurement of pH should always be practiced. To ensure accuracy, a step-by-
step procedure should be followed for media preparation. The water used to prepare media
should be highly purified. Use of tap water should be avoided as it is a rich source of
undesirable salts, particulate matter (silt, organic matter, etc.), and microorganisms (algae,
fungi, bacteria). Instead either Reverse Osmosis or double distilled water should be used.
Overall, all the instruments used in media preparation should be checked time-to-time for
their proper functionality. This practice will prevent variations which might be induced due
to improper working of any instrument. Moreover, if more than one person is using the
same media for their experiments, common stock solutions for all the lab members should
be prepared. This practice is helpful in minimizing the media and/or user-based variations
among the tissue culture experiments.
Figure: Photograph of an area for media preparation in ILRI's forage genebank on the
ILRI Addis Ababa campus where a lab technician, prepares media for plant tissue culture in
the tissue culture lab (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Preparing_media_for_tissue_culture_-
_ILRI_Forage_Genebank_on_the_ILRI_Addis_Abeba_campus.jpg(cc)
Transfer area
Transfer area is a central place in a tissue culture laboratory. It is possible to perform the
tissue culture techniques on an open working table, however, in that case the laboratory
must be perfectly clean and dry conditions should be maintained throughout. The most
commonly used instrument for making transfers in tissue culture laboratories is a laminar
flow hood. Due to its importance in tissue culture, transfer area should be well equipped.
The basic equipments include a source each of electricity, ultraviolet light, compressed air,
vacuum and a positive pressure ventilation unit. The ventilation should have a high-
efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter. The most common type of transfer area is a laminar
flow hood. In the laminar hood, air passes through a dust filter followed by a HEPA filter.
Thus constant flow of both dust- and microbe-free filtered air prevents settling of dust or
microbes, respectively, on the working surface. It is recommended that before the transfer
of cultures, laminar hood should be sterilized by an ultraviolet light on daily basis. Further,
its surface should be wiped periodically with 70% alcohol during the transfers of culture
materials. Removal of any contaminated/infected culture should be preferably performed
once transfer of all the healthy cultures is completed. It is a good strategy to prevent
spread of infection during plant tissue culture.
Autoclave
Source: http://nptel.ac.in/courses/102103016/2
Culture room is another important area required for plant tissue culture. Since cultured
explants/tissues initially need to be incubated/grown in more controlled conditions
(temperature, humidity, and light quality), culture room should also be well equipped with
basic instrumentations. Typically, the ambient temperature required for the optimum
growth of plant tissues during culture generally ranges between 20°C and 30°C. Therefore,
temperature of culture room should also be maintained within this range; however, a wider
range in temperature may be required for specific experiments. Further, the culture room
should have an alarm system to indicate any large fluctuations in the temperature which is
beyond the permissible limits. The culture room should have enough fluorescent lighting to
reach the 10,000 lux. Additionally, specific experiments may require growing a culture in a
specific light condition such as either blue or red and far-red etc. Therefore, electrical
circuits of culture racks should also be amenable for installation of such specific light
sources. Further, both light and temperature should be programmable for a 24-hr period.
Light: dark photoperiod should be maintained automatically by using the timers. Sometimes
cultures are to be incubated in continuous dark, therefore, provision of black curtains in a
few culture racks should be there. The culture room should be fitted with double doors so
that it can be kept dust free and temperature can also be maintained effectively. The culture
room should have uniform forced-air ventilation, and a humidity range of 20-98%
controllable to ±3%. To regulate temperature and humidity, air conditioners in connection
with their regulators and with prefixed maximum and minimum thresholds for these factors
are used in tissue culture room.
Figure: A tissue culture room. In the picture, shelves are arranged in parallel and some
walking space is left between the two shelves. The cultures plates are placed on these
shelves and to avoid carrying any contamination from outside, users are entering in the
culture room with lab coats and proper masks. On the left side, a cupboard can be seen that
carries a temperature controller microprocessor and a photoperiod programmable timer.
Figure: Petriplates containing tissue culture explants, kept in a rack in tissue culture room.
Greenhouse
Greenhouse is used to grow plants which are used to obtain explants. It is also required to
grow in vitro raised plants for acclimatization. Greenhouse requires facilities for maintaining
humidity and temperature.
Source:http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/eoc/special_topics/teach/sp_climate_change/p_greenho
use.html(cc)
plant systems often require similar basic laboratory equipments. The following table enlists
the items that are commonly required in a laboratory for in vitro propagation of plant
materials:
temperatures up to 121 ºC
Closures 500 Sealing culture tubes For 25 mm culture tubes
Culture vessel One case Culture vessel to Uses Magenta B Cap (C903) as
maintain plant cultures closure
Magenta B Caps One case Closure for food culture Closure for culture vessels; clear
vessel polypropylene closure; 100/ case.
Culture vessels Two cases Culture vessel for Autoclavable culture vessel and lid
maintaining plant made from clear polypropylene;
cultures round vessel measures
Erlenmeyer flasks 1000 ml(5), Mixing media Wide mouth, 1000 ml
2000 ml (5),
4000 ml (5),
6000 ml (5)
Filtration system One dozen For filter sterilization of Disposable, plastic, 0.22 μm pore
heat labile stock size nylon membrane
solutions
Forceps 8’ (5), bayonet Transferring tissue Serrated/nonserrated, stainless steel
(5), 5.5’ with
very fine point
(5)
Graduated 10 ml (5), 100 Preparing stock Glass or plastic
cylinders ml(5), 1000 ml solutions
(5),
Glass pipettes 1 ml (10-20), 5 Measuring out stock Graduated
ml (10-20), 10 solutions
ml (15-25), 25
ml (10-20)
Scalpel handles 5” length (10- Cutting explants Stainless steel
20), 8” length
(10-20)
Scalpel blades One box Cutting explants Stainless steel; individually
wrapped; sterile
Scoops 15 Measuring large Large, made up of plastic
volumes of biochemicals
Scoops One pkg Measuring small to Medium, 30 cm length, 2/pkg
medium amounts of
biochemicals
Spatula 20 To measure small to Stainless steel blade
medium amounts of
biochemicals
Sterilizers, Two Sterilizing media and Operates between 116- 126 ºC; 10-
pressure cooker instruments 20 psi; electric (for small
operations)
Sterilizers, Two For sterilizing media and operates at 121ºC with dial for fast
autoclave instruments or slow exhaust; 0-60 minute timer;
for large operations
Sterilizer Two Sterilizes instruments in dry heat with glass beads 120 V
hood between transfers (S636) or 240 V (S637)
Stir bars One pkg Used to mix stock Magnetic; teflon covered
solutions and during
media preparation
Stir bar retriever One Retrieving stir bars from With a magnet sealed in
Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi
19
Laboratory Requirements in Plant Tissue Culture
Overall, the basic procedures of the in vitro propagation of plants can be easily learnt.
However, certain attributes such as focus on precision, hygiene, and strict adherence to the
protocol are the key ingredients for a successful in vitro tissue culture experiment.
Summary
Plant tissue culture techniques are indispensable for both basic as well as applied research
areas of plant sciences. However, it is recommended to check the basic facilities before the
start of any experiment. To summarize, the major basic facilities used in tissue culture
techniques that should be present in a standard tissue culture laboratory include area for
washing and storage of plastic ware and glassware, preparation, sterilization and storage of
nutrient media, aseptic manipulation of plant material, maintenance of cultures under
controlled environmental conditions in culture room, data collection and photographic facility
and an area dedicated for the acclimatization of in vitro developed plants.
Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi
20
Laboratory Requirements in Plant Tissue Culture
Glossary
Autoclave: It is a device which is used to sterilize equipment and culture media by
subjecting them to high pressure saturated steam at 121 °C for around 15–20 minutes.
In vitro: Investigations which are performed with biological molecules outside their normal
biological context such as in culture vials or glass vials.
Totipotency: It is the ability of a single cell to divide and give rise to a complete organism.
Exercise/ Practice
Define an “explant”.
References
Murashige T and Skoog F (1962) A revised medium for rapid growth and bio-assays with
tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol Plant 15(3): 473-497.
Redenbaugh, Keith, Bill Hiatt, Belinda Martineau, Matthew Kramer, Ray Sheehy, Rick
Sanders, Cathy Houck and Don Emlay (1992). Safety Assessment of Genetically Engineered
Fruits and Vegetables: A Case Study of the Flavr Savr Tomato. CRC Press. p. 288.
Ye, X; Al-Babili, S; Klöti, A; Zhang, J; Lucca, P; Beyer, P; Potrykus, I (2000). "Engineering
the provitamin A (beta-carotene) biosynthetic pathway into (carotenoid-free) rice
endosperm". Science 287 (5451): 303–5.doi:10.1126/science.287.5451.303
Web Links
http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/bio/tissue.htm
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/tisscult/tcintro.html
http://members.aol.com/MrDJReed/private/PTC.html
http://www.tamu-commerce.edu/coas/agscience/clasnote/pls497/PlantTissueWeb/
http://www.uni-bonn.de/~ulp50b/tissue_culture.htm
http://www.orchidmall.com/CEVIE/cevtc-en.htm
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigmaaldrich/product7/143/v8630.tif/jcr
content/renditions/medium.jpg
https://www.labstockstore.com/v5Files/sfwlHpleNfygCJH2/148412/640/blstirretrieve
r.jpg