It is my privilege to contribute the foreword for this unique volume entitled: “Plant Tissue Culture Engineering,” edited by S. Dutta Gupta and Y. Ibaraki. While there have been a number of volumes published regarding the basic methods and applications of plant tissue and cell culture technologies, and even considerable attention provided to bioreactor design, relatively little attention has been afforded to the engineering principles that have emerged as critical contributions to the commercial applications of plant biotechnologies. This volume, “Plant Tissue Culture Engineering,” signals a turning point: the recognition that this specialized field of plant science must be integrated with engineering principles in order to develop efficient, cost effective, and large scale applications of these technologies. I am most impressed with the organization of this volume, and the extensive list of chapters contributed by expert authors from around the world who are leading the emergence of this interdisciplinary enterprise. The editors are to be commended for their skilful crafting of this important volume. The first two parts provide the basic information that is relevant to the field as a whole, the following two parts elaborate on these principles, and the last part elaborates on specific technologies or applications.

Plant Tissue Culture Techniques and Experiments is a manual that contains laboratory exercises about the demonstration of the methods and different plant materials used in plant tissue culture. It provides an overview on the plant cell culture techniques and plant material options in selecting the explant source. This book starts by discussing the proper setup of a tissue culture laboratory and the selection of the culture medium. It then explains the determination of an explant which is the ultimate goal of the cell culture project. The explant is a piece of plant tissue that is used in tissue culture. Furthermore, the book discusses topics about callus induction, regeneration and morphogenesis process, and haploid plants from anther and pollen culture. The meristem culture for virus-free plants and in vitro propagation for commercial propagation of ornamentals are also explained in this manual. The book also provides topics and exercises on the protoplast isolation and fusion and agrobacterium-mediated transformation of plants. This manual is intended for college students, both graduate and undergraduate, who study chemistry, plant anatomy, and plant physiology.

Thirty-four Populus biotechnology chapters, written by 85 authors, are comprised in 5 sections: 1) in vitro culture (micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, protoplasts, somaclonal variation, and germplasm preservation); 2) transformation and foreign gene expression; 3) molecular biology (molecular/genetic characterization); 4) biotic and abiotic resistance (disease, insect, and pollution); and 5) biotechnological applications (wood properties, flowering, phytoremediation, breeding, commercialization, economics, and bioethics).

Under the vast umbrella of Plant Sciences resides a plethora of highly specialized fields. Botanists, agronomists, horticulturists, geneticists, and physiologists each employ a different approach to the study of plants and each for a different end goal. Yet all will find themselves in the laboratory engaging in what can broadly be termed biotechnol

Automation and Environmental Control in Plant Tissue Culture rigorously explores the new challenges faced by modern plant tissue culture researchers and producers worldwide: issues of cost efficiency, automation, control, and optimization of the in vitro microenvironment. This book achieves a critical balance between the economic, engineering and biological viewpoints, and presents well-balanced, unique, and clearly organized perspectives on current initiatives in the tissue culture arena. Each chapter offers guidelines leading towards an exhaustive, unprecedented level of control over in vitro growth, based on emerging technologies of robotics, machine vision, environmental sensors and regulation, and systems analysis. Unlike other tissue culture books which focus on specific crops and techniques, this book spans the broad range of major tissue culture production systems, and advances evidence on how some underrated aspects of the process actually determine the status of the end product. Key researchers from industry and academia have joined to give up-to-date research evidence and analysis. The collection comprises an essential reference for industrial-scale tissue culture producers, as well as any researcher interested in optimizing in vitro production.

Plant cell culture techniques are used increasingly in basic research for plant exploitation in industry, including for example, genetic engineering and micropropagation. The rapidly developing role of plant cell culture has necessitated this new edition of a widely acclaimed book. It covers a wide range of methods central to the exploitation of plant cell cultures in fundamental and applied research. This thoroughly revised work retains the combination of giving and explaining the general principles involved with the concise description of specific protocols, with appeal to a broad readership, that made the first edition so successful. Internationally recognized experts describe the techniques used for isolating and manipulating cell cultures, and the central importance in plant biotechnology. The book will be of major interest to researchers in plant sciences in general, and specifically to botany, plant physiology, and biotechnology students.

This book provides a general introduction as well as a selected survey of key advances in the fascinating field of plant cell and tissue culture as a tool in biotechnology. After a detailed description of the various basic techniques employed in leading laboratories worldwide, follows an extended account of important applications in, for example, plant propagation, secondary metabolite production and gene technology. Additionally, some chapters are devoted to historical developments in this domain, metabolic aspects, nutrition, growth regulators, differentiation and the development of culture systems. The book will prove useful to both newcomers and specialists, and even “old hands” in tissue culture should find some challenging ideas to think about.