Plant Tissue Culture: Advances and Perspectives

A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Propagation and Seeds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 719

Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Biotechnology, Genomics and Breeding, Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDA), 30150 Murcia, Spain
Interests: protoplast isolation, culture, and plant regeneration; cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems; in vitro regeneration systems; somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis; optimization of tissue culture protocols; plant biotechnology in horticultural crops; integration of protoplast-based systems with genome editing technologies

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Biotechnology, Genomics and Breeding, Instituto Murciano de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDA), 30150 Murcia, Spain
Interests: genetic transformation and genome editing in woody and stone fruit species; in vitro regeneration systems in fruit crops; plant tissue culture and micropropagation; production of secondary metabolites through in vitro systems; elicitation strategies to enhance metabolite accumulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant tissue culture has long been a fundamental tool in plant science, supporting advances in micropropagation, genetic improvement, and the conservation of plant genetic resources. Over time, it has evolved into a key component of modern plant biotechnology, increasingly integrated with molecular and genomic approaches. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances and emerging perspectives in plant tissue culture, with particular emphasis on horticultural and crop species. Topics of interest include the following:

  • In vitro regeneration, organogenesis, and somatic embryogenesis;
  • Protoplast isolation, culture, plant regeneration, and cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) systems;
  • Micropropagation and synthetic seed technology;
  • Cryopreservation and germplasm conservation;
  • Optimization of culture media, growth regulators, and environmental conditions;
  • Genetic transformation and genome editing (e.g., CRISPR/Cas systems);
  • Production of secondary metabolites through in vitro systems, including elicitation strategies and bioreactor-based approaches.

Despite significant progress, challenges such as genotype dependency, limited regeneration capacity, and constraints in protoplast-based systems remain. Addressing these bottlenecks is essential to fully exploit the potential of tissue culture.

We welcome original research articles, reviews, and methodological studies contributing to advances in plant tissue culture and its applications in agriculture and horticulture.

Dr. Miriam Romero-Muñoz
Dr. Marga Pérez-Jiménez
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • in vitro regeneration
  • somatic embryogenesis
  • protoplast culture
  • micropropagation
  • cryopreservation
  • plant biotechnology
  • genome editing
  • CRISPR/Cas
  • horticultural crops

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

30 pages, 1319 KB  
Review
Emerging Roles of Polyamines and Autophagy in Plant In Vitro Regeneration
by Mahboubeh Davoudi Pahnekolayi, Majid Babouyeh Darabi and Negin Samadi
Horticulturae 2026, 12(8), 923; https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae12080923 - 27 Jul 2026
Viewed by 502
Abstract
Plant regeneration demonstrates the remarkable developmental plasticity of plants, enabling tissue repair, organ formation, and adaptation to environmental challenges through cellular reprogramming and redifferentiation. This capacity underpins numerous horticultural and biotechnological applications, including grafting, micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, and genetic transformation. While regeneration [...] Read more.
Plant regeneration demonstrates the remarkable developmental plasticity of plants, enabling tissue repair, organ formation, and adaptation to environmental challenges through cellular reprogramming and redifferentiation. This capacity underpins numerous horticultural and biotechnological applications, including grafting, micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, organogenesis, and genetic transformation. While regeneration has traditionally been explained by the coordinated actions of auxin and cytokinin together with key developmental regulators such as WUSCHEL, BABY BOOM, and WUSCHEL-related homeobox genes, recent studies indicate that regeneration is also influenced by stress signaling, metabolic reprogramming, reactive oxygen species, and epigenetic regulation. Among these regulatory components, polyamines have emerged as important modulators of cell division, differentiation, stress responses, and morphogenic competence during in vitro regeneration. Likewise, autophagy, a conserved intracellular recycling pathway, has gained increasing attention for its role in maintaining cellular homeostasis, facilitating metabolic adaptation, and supporting developmental transitions under tissue culture conditions. This review summarizes current knowledge on the independent roles of polyamines and autophagy in plant cell reprogramming and in vitro regeneration, with particular emphasis on wound responses, somatic embryogenesis, and organogenesis. In addition, it highlights common physiological processes through which these pathways may influence regeneration and identifies the limited understanding of their potential relationship as an important direction for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Tissue Culture: Advances and Perspectives)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop