Plant tissue culture and regeneration

Plant tissue culture and regeneration, at the molecular level, examines how individual plant cells or small tissue explants can be coaxed outside the organism to proliferate, differentiate, and produce biochemically complex compounds—particularly secondary metabolites such as terpenoid indole alkaloids, which plants normally synthesize in response to stress or developmental cues. Techniques like hairy root culture, somatic embryogenesis, and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation allow researchers to genetically engineer plant material for controlled, scalable production of these compounds without relying on whole-plant agriculture. A central challenge is deciphering the signal transduction pathways through which elicitors—chemical or physical triggers—activate metabolite biosynthesis, since understanding this wiring is prerequisite to rationally boosting yields of pharmaceutically or agrochemically valuable molecules. Active work is focused on mapping regulatory networks governing pathway flux, integrating synthetic biology tools to redirect carbon toward target compounds, and improving regeneration efficiency in crops that remain recalcitrant to transformation.

Works

178,949

Total citations

2,416,999

Keywords

Plant Secondary MetabolitesAgrobacterium-Mediated TransformationElicitationSomatic EmbryogenesisHairy Root CultureTerpenoid Indole Alkaloids