Plants from Test Tubes : An Introduction to Micropropagation

Description

Thirty years ago, in vitro propagation was a new technique for producing plants, and Lydiane Kyte's Plants from Test Tubes became the standard work on the topic. The new fourth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the many advances in science and technology, including the five accepted sequential stages of micropropagation. Ten new plants have been added. This in turn has greatly expanded the already extensive bibliography. Among the new topics that have been introduced or expanded on are embryo culture for breeding, somaclonal variation, another culture, somatic embryogenesis, cryopreservation, and genetic engineering. More ornamental plant examples are given and many new illustrations provided, including a chronology of discoveries in micropropagation.

Lydiane Kyte earned a B.S. in botany from the University of Washington. She built a plant tissue culture program for Briggs Nursery, now world famous for its tissue-cultured plants. Later she and her husband developed their own micropropagation business and served as volunteer consultants to laboratories in Brazil and Egypt. John Kleyn (1923-2005) received a Ph.D. in bacteriology from Cornell University, was Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and acquired books and journals for Indonesian universities. Holly Scoggins is Associate Professor in the Department of Horticulture and Director of the Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech University. In addition to her teaching and administrative duties, she has published extensively in the academic horticultural literature. She is also one of the four "Garden Professors" at the blog of that name. Mark Bridgen is Director of the Long Island Horticulture Research and Extension Center at Cornell University. Previously, he served as Professor and Head of the Plant Tissue Culture and Micropropagation Facility at the University of Connecticut. His research interests are in the areas of ornamental plant development and breeding, plant environment interactions, plant cell and tissue culture, in vitro plant breeding, plant propagation, and genetic modifications for plant improvement.