Articles
TISSUE CULTURE OF NATIVE PLANTS IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Article number
447_101
Pages
507 – 514
Language
Abstract
Native plants are disappearing from their habitat in an alarming rate.
In addition to their contribution to the integrity of the environment, plants are invaluable sources of useful genes for genetic improvement of crop plants.
Conservation of the components of biological diversity is vital in the arid zone, where renewable natural resources are scarce.
While the contribution of native wild plants to the preservation of the environment has been well recognized, development of methods for tissue culturing of many native wild plants is lagging behind.
Lack of well defined economic or commercial interests may be the cause for little interest in these plants.
Cell and tissue culture of native plants is envisaged as a mean for germplasm conservation to ensure the survival of endangered plant species, rapid mass propagation for large scale revegetation with perennial plants and for genetic manipulation studies.
Extraction of certain pharmaceutical compounds from tissue and cell culture as secondary metabolites will alleviate the pressure on native plants, as they are being gathered from the wild.
Recently, interest is growing in the utilization of native plants for phytoremediation of soils that are contaminated with heavy metals or petroleum.
Among the requirements for an applicable large-scale propagation system for native plants are cost effectiveness, reproducibility and simplicity.
Native plants of the Arabian Peninsula, which existed in fragile ecosystems, have been greatly affected by overgrazing and the activities of the gulf war.
Certain genotypes of Rhanterium epapposum, Gynandiris sisyrinchium, Haloxylon salicornium, Lycium shawii, Nitraria retusa, Ochradenus baccatus and Gypsophila capillaris, were selected and tissue culture technology was developed because of their potential for use in desert revegetation, phytoremediation and urban landscaping.
In addition to their contribution to the integrity of the environment, plants are invaluable sources of useful genes for genetic improvement of crop plants.
Conservation of the components of biological diversity is vital in the arid zone, where renewable natural resources are scarce.
While the contribution of native wild plants to the preservation of the environment has been well recognized, development of methods for tissue culturing of many native wild plants is lagging behind.
Lack of well defined economic or commercial interests may be the cause for little interest in these plants.
Cell and tissue culture of native plants is envisaged as a mean for germplasm conservation to ensure the survival of endangered plant species, rapid mass propagation for large scale revegetation with perennial plants and for genetic manipulation studies.
Extraction of certain pharmaceutical compounds from tissue and cell culture as secondary metabolites will alleviate the pressure on native plants, as they are being gathered from the wild.
Recently, interest is growing in the utilization of native plants for phytoremediation of soils that are contaminated with heavy metals or petroleum.
Among the requirements for an applicable large-scale propagation system for native plants are cost effectiveness, reproducibility and simplicity.
Native plants of the Arabian Peninsula, which existed in fragile ecosystems, have been greatly affected by overgrazing and the activities of the gulf war.
Certain genotypes of Rhanterium epapposum, Gynandiris sisyrinchium, Haloxylon salicornium, Lycium shawii, Nitraria retusa, Ochradenus baccatus and Gypsophila capillaris, were selected and tissue culture technology was developed because of their potential for use in desert revegetation, phytoremediation and urban landscaping.
Authors
M. M. AboEl-Nil
Keywords
Rhanterium epapposum, micropropagation, phytoremediation, biodiversity
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