Current Research in Biotechnology with Application to Plant Breeding

Abstract

A common rationale for research in new technologies is the flow of new products and knowledge which will result in significant economic development for the governmental sponsors or significant increases in profit for the company sponsor. Short term expectations are rarely met although long term consequences often have dramatic impact on product research and development. Viewed in the short term, plant cell and tissue culture has had a rather minimal effect on plant breeding; but long term impact will be substantial and will increase as technologies mature. The acceptance of plant cell and tissue culture as a unifying discipline between plant breeding and molecular biology will insure the continued health of our discipline, and have a positive impact on agriculture and humankind. The applied science of plant breeding, perhaps the most important economic use for plant cell and tissue culture, critically measures the impact of any technology by the speed with which new and improved cultivars and/or hybrids move into the marketplace or into widespread use in agriculture. New cultivars and/or hybrids most often reflect tissue culture technology that is relatively easy and widespread in its use. This brief review will focus on a sample of the applied successes as measured by germplasm and/or cultivar releases in the broad areas of haploidy, variation from cell and tissue culture, and gene transfer. Length precludes a complete listing of cultivars/germplasm, and only a portion of the significant accomplishments in each of these technologies will be mentioned. Many important technology improvements have not yet had sufficient time to impact economic development or research progress.