Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Ever since the discovery of the first haploid in
Datura stramonium
in 1921,
several researchers attempted to induce the unfertilized egg cell or other cells of
the embryo sac to undergo parthenogenesis via in vivo means. In vivo induction of
haploidy is carried out by the application of various physical, chemical or biological
stimulants (Yang and Zhou
1982
). This was followed by repeated attempts by vari-
ous scientists to improve the frequency of parthenogenesis. While ovule and ovary
culture suffered setbacks, Guha and Maheshwari (
1964
) made a breakthrough in
anther culture (Yang and Zhou
1982
). Pioneering work by Guha and Maheshwari
in 1964 and 1966 opened a new vista for haploid breeding through in vitro means.
It was a major advancement in haploid breeding of higher plants in which develop-
ment of numerous pollen plantlets through in vitro anther culture of
Datura innoxia
was achieved. They wanted to study normal breeding development, but they found
development of embryos in their cultured anthers (Maheshwari et al.
1980
,
1982
).
These embryos developed into plants with a haploid chromosome number. How-
ever, the frequency of haploid production was significantly low. These studies led
to further experiments to improve the frequency of haploids through in vitro anther
culture. Plant regeneration via anther culture has been reported in more than 250
plants (Maluszynski et al.
2003a
).
Consequently, attention shifted mainly to anther culture and culture of female
tissues was neglected for about a decade. However, other researchers continued
to work in the field of in vitro gynogenesis and in 1971, Uchimiya et al. observed
the division of haploid cells in callus tissues obtained from cultured unpollinated
ovaries of
Zea mays
and ovules of
Solanum melongena
. But this came into lime-
light only in 1976 when San Noeum reported development of haploid plantlets in
unfertilized ovary cultures of
Hordeum vulgare
. Subsequently, Zhu and Wu (
1979
)
obtained haploid plants from cultured unfertilized ovaries of
Triticum aestivum
and
Nicotiana tabacum.
This was followed by development of haploid plantlets via
unfertilized ovary culture in several economically-important plant species such as
Zea mays
(Tang et al.
2006
),
Psoralea corylifolia
(Chand and Sahrawat
2007
),
Cu-
curbita pepo
(Shalaby
2007
),
Guizotia abyssinica
(Bhat and Murthy
2007
),
Cocos
nucifera
(Perera et al.
2007
),
Morus alba
(Thomas et al.
1999
), etc.
1.3 Current Status
There are a number of excellent reviews on the production of haploids and doubled
haploids so far, including those of Andersen (
2005
), Dunwell (
2010
), Germanà
(
1997
,
2006
,
2007
,
2009
), Kasha (
1974
), Magoon and Khanna (
1963
), Maluzynski
et al. (
2003a
,
2003b
), Palmer et al. (
2005
), Touraev et al. (
2009
), Zhang et al. (
1990
)
and Xu et al. (
2007
). The doubled haploid techniques have been well established in
a range of economically-important crop species, including major cereals and cab-
bage (Wedzony et al.
2009
). Regeneration via anther culture has been reported in
more than 250 species belonging to Solanaceae, Cruciferae and Gramineae families
(Dunwell
1986
; Germanà
2011
; Hu and Yang
1986
), while there are limited reports
