Embryo Culture in Vitro as a Biotechnological Method: Capabilities and Limits (On the Cereals Example)

Abstract

The review article considers the use of the embryo culture in vitro method, which consists in the culture in vitro of zygotic embryos of different ages, in modern biotechnological studies of cereals, using the example of the literature and own data. Special attention is paid to the analysis of immature embryos culture in vitro as more effective explants in comparison with mature embryos, with a possible explanation for this effectiveness. The analysis of the cereal embryogenesis periodization and the identification of the critical stage of the relative autonomy of immature embryos on its basis is given. The method for obtaining regenerants from immature embryos under in vitro and ex vitro conditions through the stage of morphogenic callus formation, as well as the method for directly obtaining regenerants by passing the stage of callus formation, are discussed. Examples of successful application of the method in the elaboration of techniques to increase the adaptation of immature embryos/morphogenic callus/regenerants to the stress factor of drought are given. Both the possibilities and limitations of embryo culture in vitro as a biotechnological method are evaluated. The principle of universality of plant morphogenesis processes in natural and experimental conditions, put forward by T. B. Batygina (2014 and earlier), is confirmed.