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Gnotobiotic culture of plants and related research

  • Interpreting Botanical Progress
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Summary

The techniques that have been used for several years to culture tissues and organs of plants have been expanded to the culture of whole plants, aseptically, throughout one or more life cycles. Use of plastic films and isolator chambers originally developed for germ-free animal research can be of advantage in developing model plant systems. Axenic plants offer possibilities of gaining greater insights into the physiology of plants growing in the absence of other organisms and of plants growing in association with one or more microorganisms. Reports on growth of the axenic plant compared to the non-axenic plant are contradictory. Examples of how a microorganism changes the physiology of the plant and how it affects root exudation are relatively few but indicate that more research is needed. Plant gnotobiology offers unique opportunities for further unraveling the complex interactions that occur in the dynamic plant-microorganism ecosystem.

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  1. M. G. Hale
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  2. D. L. Lindsey
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  3. K. M. Hameed
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Hale, M.G., Lindsey, D.L. & Hameed, K.M. Gnotobiotic culture of plants and related research. Bot. Rev 39, 261–273 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02860119

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