Plant Tissue Culture
What is “Plant Tissue Culture”?
(Tissue culture in 1969)
Plant tissue-culture is a method of propagating plants. Plant tissues, which are taken aseptically from mother plants, are multiplied and grown under controlled conditions. In this method, a great number of identical seedlings can be produced at one time that have the same genetic characters as their mother plants.
"Meristem tissues" located on the apices of stems or roots are rarely infected by viruses or other pathogens, and thus are often used for plant tissue-culture.
What is the benefit of this technique?
This technique makes it possible to produce a number of genetically identical seedlings in a short time. The number of plants can be controlled deliberately while cultured.
Moreover, this technique serves the conservation of a variety of species. It can multiply even such species that are hard to propagate and also the endangered and/or rare species.
History of Plant Tissue culture in Akatsuka Group
| 1966 | Research of tissue culturing of Orchids (Cymbidium) launched |
|---|---|
| 1967 | Stem meristem culturing (also known as growth point culturing) of Cymbidium met with success, and mass production of Orchids started |
| 1969 | Rooms for research of tissue culturing constructed |
| 1971 | Stem meristem culturing of other Orchids such as Cattleya, Dendrobium and Vanda also succeeded, and their mass production started |
| 1978 | Mass production of several other ornamental plants (Nephrolepis exaltata cv. Bostoniensis, Alocasia, Spathiphyllum, Syngonium) began |
| 1986 | Mass production of Rhododendron began |
| 1989 | Mass production of Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) began |
| 1994 | "The Institute for Biological Process Research" founded with expanded cultivation rooms |
| 2008 | Mass propagation of Titanbicus (Hibiscus "Taitanbicus") commenced |
| 2009 | Research of tissue culturing of Lenten rose (Helleborus. x hybridus) initiated |
| 2012 | Mass propagation of Lenten Rose commenced Research of tissue culturing of Peruvian Lily(Alstroemeria spp.) initiated |
| 2013 | Mass propagation of Peruvian Lily commenced |
