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. 1994 Jun 7;91(12):5222–5226. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.12.5222

Genetic instability of plant tissue cultures: breakdown of normal controls.

R L Phillips 1, S M Kaeppler 1, P Olhoft 1
PMCID: PMC43966  PMID: 8202472

Abstract

Plants regenerated from relatively undifferentiated callus cultures possess a vast array of genetic changes. Such variations can result in useful agricultural and horticultural products. For other purposes, however, variations in traits other than those of interest may be undesirable--for example, using cultured cells for genetic engineering. Any steps made toward understanding the basis of tissue culture-induced genetic variation should be helpful in developing a more stable and manipulatable somatic cell system. This review provides a glimpse at the specific kinds of genetic changes encountered among regenerated plants and their progeny. Included among these variations are cytosine methylation alterations of the genome. The repeat-induced point mutation (RIP) phenomenon, reported for filamentous fungi, is invoked to provide a framework to consider the origin of variation in plant tissue cultures.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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