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Tissue Culture, Morphogenesis & Regeneration |
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Dr. A.K. Sharma
Scientist G
| Phone no. 91-522-2205831-35 Ext. 919 | ak.sharma@nbri.res.in |
Dr. Meena Sharma
Scientist E II
| Phone no. 91-522-2205831-35 Ext. 920 | m.sharma@nbri.res.in |
Dr. M. B. Jain
Scientist C
| Phone no. 91-522-2205831-35 Ext. 920 | madhujain@nbri.res.in |
Shri D K Purshottom
Tech Off B Gr I
| Phone no. 91-522-2205831-35 Ext. 921 | |
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Group works on
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In the Tissue Culture Laboratory, morphogenetic studies are being pursued in tissue
and organ cultures of economic plants, which include fruits, medicinals, ornamentals
and forest trees, mainly with the objective of understanding the process of growth
and differentiation, particularly for cloning even the intractable-to-regenerate
plant systems, as well as for developing in vitro strategies for
germplasm preservation in order to develop a Tissue or Gene Bank.
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Achievements of the Laboratory
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- Regeneration of a complete perennial plant from its somatic callus concurrent
with work in carrot: Regeneration of complete plants of Rauvolfia serpentina
(Sarpgandha) from somatic callus, which fruited normally in soil is contemporary
to the work on carrot tissue culture done in U.S.A. and the first for any perennial
plant, where the origin of the plants has been traced to their mother cells in somatic
callus tissue (results presented in a Ph.D. thesis, perhaps the first thesis wholly
devoted to Morphogenesis in Tissue Culture, Chaturvedi, 1968; Mitra and Chaturvedi,
1970).
- Regeneration of complete plants of first fruit tree, viz. Citrus from somatic
tissue: Regeneration of complete fruiting plants of Citrus (citrus) from
somatic tissue, which has been the first report in case of any fruit tree (Mitra
and Chaturevdi, 1972; manuscript submitted in 1970) and second of any tree produced
from somatic tissue in vitro - first being of Populus tremuloides
(aspen) in U.S.A. by Winton on the subject.
- First Large-scale field trial in the country of an intractable-to-regenerate
plant - Dioscorea floribunda:
Development of the technology for in vitro mass production of cloned plants
of Dioscorea floribunda (medicinal yam; Chaturvedi, 1975) with demonstration
of their large-scale field cultivation (first in the country for any Tissue Culture-raised
plant species) in order to fulfill the need for raw material - diosgenin - for production
of contraceptive pills in the National Family Planning Programme, was considered
a no less than World News and found place in editorial of reputed national newspapers
such as The Times of India, February 25, 1976, The Financial Express, New Delhi,
February 23, 1976.
- The first industry-funded research at NBRI: At the instance of M/s Ranbaxy
Laboratories Ltd., New Delhi, and with their financial assistance, a protocol was
developed for rapid clonal multiplication of Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary),
a miracle herb, during 1981-85 (Chaturvedi et al., 1984).
- Development of in vitro cloning process of Jojoba in the face of global
failure on this score: Protocol was developed for the production of true-to-type
plants of a commercially most important dioecious plant, Simmondsia chinensis,
commonly known as Jojoba (Chaturvedi and Sharma, 1989), seeds of which yield a natural
substitute for the precious oil of sperm whale, an endangered species, while such
a proposition was declared as not possible by the researchers working at the University
of California in the scientifically most advanced country, like, U.S.A. (Rost and
Hinchee, 1980).
- First cloning of bamboo using explants from mature Culms: A process was developed,
for the first time in the world, for cloning of any bamboo, in this case, Dendrocalamus
strictus (a bamboo, commercially most important) through explants taken
from field-grown culms (Chaturvedi et al., 1993).
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- Germplasm preservation through excised root culture - an innovative method developed:
An innovative method of germplasm preservation through regenerative excised root
culture has been propounded and demonstrated for a number of economic plants, including
trees, viz. Populus deltoides (poplar), Azadirachta indica (neem)
and Dalbergia latifolia (rosewood) by retrieving normal plants from 14 to16
year old cultures in certain cases, which may merit as World Record, (Chaturvedi
et al., 1991, 2004).
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- i. A breakthrough in Citrus Shoot Meristem Culture: A breakthrough
at the International level has been achieved by developing a process of regeneration
of excised shoot meristems, measuring as small as 0.2 mm in length, of two commercially
most important Citrus species, viz. C. aurantifolia (lime) and C.
sinensis (sweet orange) and an important Citrus rootstock, viz, C.limonia
(Rangpur lime)(Chaturvedi et al ,2001). It may be emphasized that shoot meristem
culture of citrus eluded success since mid-sixties despite efforts of the world's
most competent group in the world's most advanced country, i.e., U.S.A.
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- ii. Production of Pathogen-free plants of Citrus:
Application of the shoot meristem culture for demonstrating production of clean
stocks (free from viruses and other pathogens) of important Citrus spp. and their
root stocks was undertaken in a DBT-sponsored project with Dr. Chaturvedi as its
P.I.
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- National Technology Award: On the technology developed for mass clonal multiplication
of the forest tree, Populus deltoides through Tissue Culture, Dr. Chaturvedi
has been given a National Award for Development of Technology for Advancement of
Science:Biotechnology Efforts for the year 2000 on the Technology Day, the 11th
May 2000, by the DBT/DST, Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, Government
of India.The technology has been transferred to TERI, New Delhi for upscaling, which
has subsequently been taken up by M/s Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ahmedabad. The
technology in the form of a protocol for cloning of commercial clones of P. deltoides
has since then been published (Chaturvedi et al., 2004)
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- In vitro cloning of mature trees of commercial value: Cloning of
genotypes of such a medicinally important tree, like, Azadirachta indica
was achieved to a good extent, even in case of mature trees, including one of its
more vigorously growing somaclonal variant employing vegetative explants from field-grown
trees. Similarly, cloning of Mitragyna parvifolia (Kaddam), a commercially
invaluable tree for plywood industry, was performed again using vegetative explants
from mature trees.
- Slow growth culture with record long incubation: A significant achievement
in germplasm preservation has been made in formulating the culture conditions for
long-term slow growth culture of shoot apices of Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice),
a 100% imported medicinal plant, where shoots grown in vitro for more than 7 years
without subculture, observed so far, could be retrieved to normal plants (Chaturvedi
et al., 2004).
- In vitro technology for Dwarf Banana as crop for Lucknow and Northern Plains:
Another technology of mass clonal production through in vitro strategy for
establishment of a dwarf variety of Musa paradisiaca (banana), i.e.,
Cavendish (Basrai) in Lucknow and Northern plains will ameliorate the nutritional
problem, particularly of the poor population of this region. The in vitro-raised
banana plants of this variety have been demonstrated to perform exceedingly well
and produce normal fruits with perfect flavour under the Lucknow climate.
- Success in tissue culture of mango - A big challenge: The most difficult
challenge of producing superior orchards of prized varieties of Mangifera
indica (mango) of Lucknow and adjacent mango belt, like, Dasheri, Safeda,
Chausa, Amrapali and Langra along with their rootstocks has been accomplished in
a major way and certain leads obtained (Chaturvedi et al., 2003, 2004a, b).
- In vitro production of commercial ornamentals: Protocols have been developed
for rapid clonal multiplication of a number of commercially important ornamentals,
viz. Gladiolus (gladiolus), Gerbera jamesonii (gerbera), Dianthus caryophyllus
(carnation), Sinningia speciosa (gloxinia), Zantedeschia spp. (calla
lily), Syngonium podophyllum, Variegated (syngonium), etc., including
orchids, which can be exploited for Floriculture Industry. (Chaturvedi et al., 1995).
- Singular contributions regarding some fundamental aspects in tissue culture:
Besides the above-mentioned achievements, some very significant achievements of
fundamental nature have also been made in the field of In Vitro Morphogenesis.
For example, nutrient formulations were found out for tailoring the root system
from several weak adventitious roots to a strong tap root-like system, which is
of great significance, particularly in the case of micropropagated trees (Chaturvedi,
1979), control of morphogenetic pattern of differentiation from shoot buds to somatic
embryos through managing culture conditions (Chaturvedi and Sinha, 1979), control
of efficacy of growth hormones by inorganic salts of the nutrient medium (Misra
and Chaturvedi, 1991) etc.
- A process in respect of an important pulse- Cajanas cajan (pigeon pea) for
multiple regenertion of shoot meristems from leaves has been developed both for
utilization for its rapid cloning and transformation studies ( Jain and Chaturvedi,
2004).
- National Plant Conservation Programme:
In vitro methods are being developed for rapid micropropagation/cloning and
germplasm preservation of certain target plant species of Indo-Gangetic plains for
the ultimate aim of their rehabilitation in the natural habitat for conservation
and sustained utilization.
- United States Patent Granted No: 6, 485, 975
Method for regenerating viable and fertile Citrus plants by tissue culture
from explants
Chaturvedi, H. C, Singh, S. K. and Sharma, A. K. 2002
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Advantages
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The main advantages of the present invention are :
- The protocol developed will afford rapid production of cloned and pathogen-free
plants of elite trees of two commercially most important Citrus species even
if the mother trees were diseased.
- Establishment of disease-free citrus orchards will lead to not only to self-sufficiency
by increased fruit production, but also export promotion through a strong Citrus
Industry of International standards.
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