Salinity is an ever-present threat to crop yields, especially in countries where irrigation is an essential aid to agriculture. Although the tolerance of saline conditions by plants is variable, crop species are generally intolerant of one-third of the concentration of salts found in seawater. Attempts to improve the salt tolerance of crops through conventional breeding programmes have met with very limited success, due to the complexity of the trait: salt tolerance is complex genetically and physiologically. Tolerance often shows the characteristics of a multigenic trait, with quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with tolerance identified in barley, citrus, rice, and tomato and with ion transport under saline conditions in barley, citrus and rice. Physiologically salt tolerance is also complex, with halophytes and less tolerant plants showing a wide range of adaptations. Attempts to enhance tolerance have involved conventional breeding programmes, the use of in vitro selection, pooling physiological traits, interspecific hybridization, using halophytes as alternative crops, the use of marker-aided selection, and the use of transgenic plants. It is surprising that, in spite of the complexity of salt tolerance, there are commonly claims in the literature that the transfer of a single or a few genes can increase the tolerance of plants to saline conditions. Evaluation of such claims reveals that, of the 68 papers produced between 1993 and early 2003, only 19 report quantitative estimates of plant growth. Of these, four papers contain quantitative data on the response of transformants and wild-type of six species without and with salinity applied in an appropriate manner. About half of all the papers report data on experiments conducted under conditions where there is little or no transpiration: such experiments may provide insights into components of tolerance, but are not grounds for claims of enhanced tolerance at the whole plant level. Whether enhanced tolerance, where properly established, is due to the chance alteration of a factor that is limiting in a complex chain or an effect on signalling remains to be elucidated. After ten years of research using transgenic plants to alter salt tolerance, the value of this approach has yet to be established in the field.

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Improving crop salt tolerance

Preface. The origin and development of banana and plantain cultivation. Systems of cultivation and management. Molecular markers, genetic diversity and systematics in Musa. Musa genetics. Banana and plantain breeding. In vitro culture of bananas. Banana morphology - part I: roots and rhizomes. Banana morphology - part II: the aerial shoot. The response of the plant to the environment. Soils. Banana nutrition. Banana diseases. Pests. Harvesting and fruit care. Ripening and biochemistry of the fruit. The nutritional value of bananas. Banana processing. Banana and plantain in the East African highlands. The world banana economy. Index.

Bananas and plantains.

The broad applications of somatic embryogenesis, both in basic and applied research, have stimulated studies on the determination of in vitro conditions for the induction of somatic embryos and their conversion into plants. As a result, efficient protocols on SE induction and plant regeneration have recently become available for many plant species, including Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., a model plant in genetics and embryogenesis. Studies on factors controlling in vitro plant morphogenesis are highly desirable not only for the development of improved regeneration systems, but also for the analysis of molecular mechanisms underlying plant embryogenesis. This review focuses on the conditions influencing the induction of embryogenic potential in in vitro cultured plant cells. The roles of explant type, endo- and exogenous plant growth regulators and stress factors in the induction of somatic embryogenesis are especially emphasized. Possible mechanisms by which different factors induce or modify embryogenic competence in cultured plant cells are also discussed. Since the production of genetically solid and true-to-type plants is desired, especially for transformation and micropropagation practice, the problem of the genetic characteristics of regenerants, in terms of their chimerism and somaclonal variation, is discussed in some detail. Special consideration is given to A. thaliana– a major model plant species for classical genetics and genomics. Recent availability of efficient embryogenic cultures in this organism makes it possible to benefit from advanced genomic research of Arabidopsis to study plant embryogenesis on the molecular level.

Factors influencing somatic embryogenesis induction and plant regeneration with particular reference to Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh

Overexpression of Δ1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase increases proline production and confers salt tolerance in transgenic potato plants

Micropropagation: Uses and Methods

Electrofusion for the production of somatic hybrid plants of Solanum melongena L. and Solanum khasianum C.B. Clark

Somatic hybrid plants between eggplant (Solanum melongena) and Solanum torvum have been produced by the electrofusion of mesophyll protoplasts in a movable multi-electrode fusion chamber. Using hair structure as a selection criteria, we identified a total of 19 somatic hybrids, which represented an overall average of 15.3% of the 124 regenerated plants obtained in the two fusion experiments. Several morphological traits were intermediate to those of the parents, including trichome density and structure, height, leaf form and inflorescence. Cytological analyses revealed that the chromosome numbers of the somatic hybrids approximated the expected tetraploid level (2n=4x=48). Fifteen hybrid plants were homogeneous and had relatively stable chromosome numbers (46–48), while four other hybrids had variable chromosome numbers (35–48) and exhibited greater morphological variation. The hybridity of these 19 somatic hybrid plants was confirmed by analyses of phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) and esterase zymograms.

Somatic hybrid plants produced by electrofusion between Solanum melongena L. and Solanum torvum Sw.

Interspecific somatic hybridization in potato by protoplast electrofusion

The eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is an economically important vegetable crop in tropical and warm temperate regions. It is grown on about 432 × 103 ha worldwide, yielding 5.7 million t in 1989, with China (2.28 million t), Turkey (0.70 million t), Japan (0.58 million t), and Egypt (0.45 million t) being the main producers (FAO 1989).

Somatic Hybridization of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) with Its Close and Wild Relatives

Suspensions of embryogenic cells of a triploid banana (Musa spp., cv. Bluggoe) were initiated from the uppermost part of meristematic buds, and used as protoplast source. After 20 weeks in culture, the suspension contained a mixture of globular structures or globules and embryogenic cell clusters, as well as single cells. Two types of protoplasts were obtained from embryogenic suspension culture: small (20–30 μm) and larger (30–50 μm) protoplasts with a dense cytoplasm and large starch grains respectively. The small protoplasts probably originated from embryogenic cell clusters, and also from pseudocambial cells of globules, while larger protoplasts were probably released from oval starchy cells and those of the globule peripheral area. In co-culture with a suitable feeder, consisting of suspensions of diploid banana cells, the protoplasts of triploid banana reformed the cell wall within 24 h and underwent sustained divisions leading to the formation of small clusters of 2–3 cells within 7 days. The latter developed directly into embryos without passing through an apparent callus phase. 10% of such embryos gave rise to plantlets when subcultured in 2.2 μM 6-benzylaminopurine and 2 μM 4 amino-3,5,6-trichloropicolinic acid for 1 week, before transfer to MS medium containing 10 μM 6-benzylaminopurine. The rest of the embryos underwent intensive direct secondary embryogenesis which could lead to the formation of plantlets with a frequency of up to 50% upon further transfer to hormone-free medium.

L. Rossignol

Papers

Electrofusion for the production of somatic hybrid plants of Solanum melongena L. and Solanum khasianum C.B. Clark

Somatic hybrid plants produced by electrofusion between Solanum melongena L. and Solanum torvum Sw.

Interspecific somatic hybridization in potato by protoplast electrofusion

Somatic Hybridization of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) with Its Close and Wild Relatives

Plant regeneration from cultured protoplasts of the cooking banana cv. Bluggoe (Musa spp., ABB group)