Main description:

Plants are an important source of food and of valuable products for industry, agriculture and medicine. They are unique in many aspects of metabolic processes, development and reproduction. Most of these aspects can now be studied by the modern methods and technolo­ gies of molecular and cellular biology. Such studies are also encouraged as to improve plant yield and quality. During the past decade research in plant sciences has demonstrated the feasibility of plant cell and tissue culture techniques as major tools in biology and agriculture. These techniques are also essential in strategies for engineering of biological systems. The proceedings of the VII International Congress on Plant Tissue and Cell Culture in Amsterdam show that in recent years an impressive progress has been achieved. The papers of the congress, with more than 2000 participants, include the full text of plenary lectures, keynote lectures and presentations of speakers who have been selected out of more than 1400 abstracts. This combination, which provides readers with reviews as well as recent findings and future developments, captures an important part of the scientific exchange during the congress. The papers in these proceedings are a reflection of the role of plant cell and tissue culture in disciplines varying from plant breeding to molecular biology. Basic as well as applied studies in a variety of plant disciplines are presented in 4 sections: (1) Genetic manipulation and propagation, (2) Morphogenesis and metabolism, (3) Secondary metabolites and (4) Biotechnology and developing countries.

Contents:

Section A / Genetic Manipulation and Propagation.- Micropropagation in Crop Species.- Genetic Preservation in vitro.- Current Research in Biotechnology with Application to Plant Breeding.- Plant Regeneration from Embryogenic Calli, Cell Suspension Cultures and Protoplasts of Triticum aestivum L. (Wheat).- Tissue, Cell, and Protoplast Culture of Maize (Zea mays L.).- Antioxidants Influence the Plating Efficiency and Microcallus-Growth of Protoplasts in Lolium perenne L..- Enhancement of Sugar Yield: A Molecular Biological Approach.- Applications of the Particle Gun in Plant Biology.- X-Irradiation and Co-Transformation of Petunia “Mitchell” Protoplasts with Two Antibiotic Resistance Genes.- Gene Transfer to Barley.- Promoterless Reporter Genes and Their Use in Plant Gene Transformation.- Transformation of Cucumber via Agrobacterium tumefaciens.- Rejuvenation and Micropropagation.- Genotype-Phenotype Interplay in Micropropagation.- Effect of Mineral Nutrition on the Growth and Multiplication of in vitro Cultured Plants.- Rapid Regeneration of Sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) Plants from in vitro Cultures.- Morphogenesis of Gladiolus Buds in Bioreactors — Implication for Scaled-Up Propagation of Geophytes.- Dormancy Development in Lily Bulblets Propagated In Vitro.- Do We Understand Somaclonal Variation?.- Gene Expression in Salt Tolerant Alfalfa Cell Cultures and the Salt Tolerant Plants Regenerated from these Cultures.- Glyphosate Resistance and Gene Amplification in Selected Daucus carota Suspension Cultures.- RFLP-Analysis of Rice Plants Regenerated from Tissue Cultures.- In vivo and in vitro Mutagenesis of a Brassica napus Acetolactate Synthase Gene for the Production of Herbicide Resistance.- Cell Culture of Alien Chromosome Addition Lines to Induce Somatic Recombination and Gene Introgression.- Antibiotic Resistant Mutants of Solanum nigrum.- Establishing a Tomato Transposon Tagging System with Heterologous Transposons.- The Use of the Polymerase Chain Reaction to Detect Specific Sequences in Transformed Plant Tissues.- Differential Expression of Agropine Synthase Gene during Morphogenesis in vitro.- Intrinsic GUS-Like Activity.- Field Testing of Cucumber Plants which express the CMV Coat Protein Gene: Field Plot Design to Test Natural Infection Pressures.- Two Years of Transgenic Flax Field Tests: What Do They Tell Us?.- From Microspore to Embryoid: Faces of the Angiosperm Pollen Grain.- Two Pathways in Pollen Protoplast Culture: Cell Divisions and Tube Growth.- Biochemical and Cytological Changes in Young Tobacco Pollen during in vitro Starvation in Relation to Pollen Embryogenesis.- Molecular and Physiological Differentiation of Pollen in vitro.- Sex Determination in the Dioecious Melandrium: The in vitro Culture Approach.- Transformation of Pollen.- In vitro Fertilization of Single, Isolated Gametes, Transmission of Cytoplasmic Organelles and Cell Reconstitution of Maize (Zea mays I.).- Anther Culture Selection to Enhance Snow Mold Disease Resistance in Winter Wheat.- Haploid Suspension and Protoplast Culture from Isolated Microspores of Maize.- Embryo Rescue of Interspecific Hybrids of Brassica spinescens X Brassica campestris and DNA Analysis.- Haploids from Unpollinated Ovaries of Allium cepa-Single Plant Screening, Haploid Determination, and Long term Storage.- Partial Genome Transfer in Interspecific Tomato Hybrids.- Transfer of Resistance to PLRV, PVX and PVY from S. brevidens to Potato by Somatic Hybridisation: Characterisation and Field Evaluation.- Transfer of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Resistance by Asymmetric Protoplast Fusion.- Improvements of the Brassica Crops by Transfer of Genes from Alien Species via Somatic Hybridization.- Section B / Morphogenesis and Metabolism.- Mechanisms of Somatic Embryogenesis in Cell Cultures — Physiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.- Lipid Synthesis and Transfer.- Biosynthesis of Triacylglycerols in Plant Cell and Embryo Cultures. Their Significance in the Breeding of Oil Plants.- Lipid Composition of Plasma Membrane from Crown Gall Tumour in vitro.- Intracellular Pi-Compartmentation during Phosphate Starvation-Triggered Induction of an Extracellular Ribonuclease in Tomato Cell Culture.- Aerobic Hexose Metabolism in Embryogenic Cell Lines of Daucus carota Studied by 13C NMR Using 13C-Enriched Substrates.- Are Two Localization Sites of Nitrate Reductase Responsible for the Differential Expression in Tobacco Cells during the Growth Cycle?.- Phytochrome in Plant Cell Cultures.- Blue-Light Effects on Gene Expression in Plant-Cell Cultures.- Light-Dependent Growth and Differentiation Processes in Photoautotrophic Cell Cultures.- Light Stimulated Cell Proliferation and Glyoxalase Activity in Callus Cultures of Amaranthus paniculatus.- Spatial and Temporal Expression of Regulatory Genes in Zea mays.- Developmental Mutants in Carrot.- Tissue and Cell-Specific Expression of Genes Encoding Carrot Extracellular Proteins.- Microspore-Derived Embryos: A Tool for Studies in Regulation of Gene Expression in Zygotic Embryos.- Molecular Changes Associated with the Commitment Phase of Microspore Embryogenesis.- Expression of Chimeric Genes in Developing Embryos Derived from Isolated Microspores from Transgenic Brassica napus Plants.- Detection of Androgenesis-Related Proteins in Maize.- Significant Higher Proportions of 1BL-1RS Wheat-Rye Translocation Lines Among Doubled Haploid Progenies Derived from Fl Hybrids Between Translocated and Non-Translocated Wheat Cultivars.- Differences in Responses to 2,4-Dichlorophenoxy Acetic Acid (2,4-D) Treatment between Embryogenic and Non-Embryogenic Lines of Alfalfa.- The Commitment to Embryogenesis, A Cytological Approach.- Immunocytochemical Localization of Calmodulin During Carrot Somatic Embryogenesis.- pH Control of Carrot Somatic Embryogenesis.- Somatic Embryogenesis in Celery: Induction, Control and Changes in Polyamines and Proteins.- Production and Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies against Marker Proteins for Somatic Embryogenesis in Pea (Pisum sativum L.).- Signal Transduction at the Membrane Level of Plant Cells.- Inhibition of Polyamine Biosynthesis Affects the Rhizogenic Response in Tobacco Thin Cell Layers.- Plant Growth Regulator Manipulations in Sugar Beet.- Regulation of Cytokinin Catabolism in Tobacco Callus Cultures.- Differential Sensitivity to Auxin at the Plasma Membrane Level.- Roles of the Primary Cell Wall in Morphogenesis.- Signals Influencing Cell Elongation, Cell Enlargement, Cell Division and Morphogenesis.- Effect of A Xyloglucan-Derived Nonasaccharide on Carrot Protoplasts.- Characterization of GP57, An Auxin-Regulated and Dermal-Tissue-Localized Extracellular Glycoprotein of Carrot.- Molecular Aspects of the Cell Cycle in Catharanthus roseus Synchronous Cell Division Cultures.- Microtubules and the First Cell Cycle in Cultured Mesophyll Protoplasts of Nicotiana.- Section C / Secondary Metabolites.- Possiblilities for Improving Yields of Secondary Metabolites in Plant Cell Cultures.- The Toxic Compartment of Plant Cells.- Transport and Accumulation of Secondary Metabolites.- Accumulation of Ajmalicine and Serpentine in Vacuoles Isolated from Catharanthus roseus Cell Suspension Cultures.- Recovery of Secondary Metabolites with Minimal Loss of Cell Viability.- Cellular Aspects of Thiophene Accumulation in Relation to Root Differentiation.- Possibilities of Finding New Products from Plant Cell Cultures.- Large-Scale Production of New Biologically Active Compounds in Plant-Cell Cultures.- Terpene Production by Liverworts of in vitro Cultures.- Immobilized Ginkgo biloba Cell Cultures.- Production of Terpenes by Transformed Differentiated Shoot Cultures of Mentha piperita citrata and M. Piperita vulgaris.- Isolation and Distribution of 7ß- Hydroxyhyoscyamine in Solanaceous Plants.- Bioconversion of xenobiotics (Pesticides) in Plant Cell Cultures.- Bioconversion of Precursors Occurring in Plants and of Related Synthetic Compounds.- Bioconvention of Xenobiotics in Different Plant Systems - Cell Suspension Cultures, Root Cultures and Intact Plants.- Metobolism of Polychlorinated Biphenylis (PCBs) by Plant Tissue Cultures.- Metabolism of Metribuzin in Tomato Cell Cultures by a Glucosyltransferase.- Conversion of Glucosinolate Synthetic Precursors in Brassica Cultures.- Possibilities, Problems, and Pitfalls of Large-Scale Plant Cell Cultures.- Biosynthesis of Sanguinarine by Elicitation of Surface Immobilized Cells of Papaver somniferum L..- The Effect of Continuous High Shear Stress on Plant Cell Suspension Cultures.- Application of the Liquid-Impelled Loop Reactor for the Production of Anthraquinones by Plant Cell Cultures.- The Cultivation of Transformed Roots from Laboratory to Pilot Plant.- Production of Deacetyllanatoside C by Digitalis lanata Cell Cultures.- Use of Genetic Engineering to Improve Yields in Cell Cultures, e.g. (Anti)sense DNA Technology.- Strategies to Improve Yields of Secondary Metabolites to Industrially Interesting Levels.- Selection of High-Yielding Cell Lines of Tagetes Using Flow Cytometry.- The Effects of Over-Expressing the Yeast Ornithine Decarboxylase Gene upon the Nicotine and Polyamine Levels in Transformed Roots of Nicotiana rustica.- Semisynthetic Production of Vinblastine Involving Cell Cultures of Catharanthus roseus and Chemical Reaction.- Principles Regulating Formation and Activity of Secondary Metabolic Enzymes on Plant Tissue and Cell Cultures.- Enzymology of Alkaloid Production in Plant Cell Cultures.- Affecting Secondary Product Formation in Suspension and Hairy Root Cultures — A Comparison.- Purification of Cytochrome P-450-Dependent Geraniol-l0-Hydroxylase from a Cell Suspension Culture of Catharanthus roseus.- Molecular Cloning, and Tissue- and Cell-Specific Expression of Hyos-Cyamine 6ß-Hydroxylase.- Section D / Biotechnology and Developing Countries.- Perspectives in Plant Cell and Tissue Culture in Developing Countries.- Commercialisation of Agricultural Biotechnology in India: Opportunities, Progress and Problems.- Impact of Tissue Culture Techniques on the Development of Agribusiness in Mexico.- A Model For Comparing and Evaluating Biotechnological Innovations for Small-Scale Farmers in Developing Countries.