Main Steps of Tissue Culture Techniques Ann Arbor, MI

At the time when the sterile explants are being placed on the nutrient medium, the level of care taken to prevent the introduction of microorganisms is an extremely important factor in determining how successfully contamination can be controlled. The potential for contamination can come from a variety of places, including dust, hair, hands, and clothes. Before entering the culture area, the inoculating chamber should be completely free of dust, and the operator should dress in sterile clothing and wear sterile headgear (aprons).

Before beginning the process of transfer, the hands should be cleaned with alcohol that is 95% strong, and the area where the transfer will take place should also be cleaned and wiped with alcohol that is 95% strong. During the process of transferring the explants into the media, it is important to remain silent and refrain from sneezing or talking. Flames should be applied to the neck or mouth of the culture container, and the transferring instruments should also be flamed before being dipped in alcohol.

After the transfer, the mouth of the petri dish should be covered with a cap or a cotton plug, and the Parafilm should be used to seal the petri dish. Care should be taken to ensure that the explant does not come into contact with the rim of the culture vessel. During the transfer, it is also necessary to make certain that the plant tissue is exposed to the media in an appropriate manner.

Following the process of inoculation, the cultures are either kept in a culture room or a BOD incubator at a temperature of 25.2 degrees Celsius. Temperatures below or above 25 degrees Celsius may be required, depending on the plant or the type of culture. Some tissues are able to thrive in low light conditions (approximately 1000 lux), while others require well-lit (approximately 3000 lux) conditions and 16 hours of light followed by 8 hours of darkness in order to regenerate successfully. The illumination in the culture room comes from fluorescent lights that are a cool white color and are approximately 18 inches above the culture racks.

The rapid drying out of the culture medium that occurs under conditions of low humidity makes high humidity an ideal environment for the contamination of the culture medium. In the culture room, the relative humidity should be kept at a specific level (between 20 and 98 percent), and the air circulation should be done in an appropriate manner. Shaker systems, such as open platform orbital shakers or the orbital incubators fitted with fluorescent lights to provide different day/night regimes, are utilized in cell suspension culture to ensure agitation and aeration. These systems can be used to cultivate cells in suspension.

Generally speaking, observing the cultures at set intervals in the culture room or incubators in order to track the growth and development of tissues that have been cultured in vitro is the method that is utilized.
On the basis of the observations made either with a hand lens or with the assistance of a simple microscope in sterile conditions, the explants may be required to be transferred to new media (freshly prepared) or with new ingredients or hormone composition depending on the state of growth of cell or tissue. These observations can be made either with a hand lens or with the assistance of a simple microscope.

During the transfer process, the same precautions are taken, and full aseptic conditions are kept. If this process is delayed, it may inhibit the healthy development of tissues and also delay the regeneration of plantlets. Both of these outcomes would be undesirable. In the case of suspension culture, frequent changes of medium or the introduction of fresh inoculum at regular intervals are required. Likewise, in the case of callus culture, the sub-culturing of callus tissue is required in order to achieve conditions in which the callus tissue is capable of dividing.

Plants that have been regrown using an in vitro tissue culture method are given containers with soil in order to be planted. Acclimatization of these regenerated plants is required beforehand in order for them to be planted in pots. At this point in time, the plants are developing sufficient root systems and cuticular leaf surface structures in order for them to be able to withstand the environmental conditions of the field. Acclimatization is a process that requires a humid chamber and a slow process to get the plantlet used to going from a high humid condition to normal atmospheric humidity. This process is called “acclimatization.” The growth chamber or greenhouse should be equipped with an artificial lighting system, which should consist of a combination of incandescent and fluorescent lamps. The goal of this system is to produce light with wavelengths that are appropriately balanced to promote healthy plant growth and photosynthesis.

The facilities of the greenhouse are required for winter crops in a different way than they are for summer crops in order to maintain the appropriate temperature, required air circulation, and relative humidity. In order to obtain the next generation of plants, those that were started in pots are transferred to fields where they are allowed to mature normally, flower, and set seeds.

As a result of the work done by researchers in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources at the University of Connecticut (UConn), a technique known as micropropagation, which has been shown to be beneficial to a large number of ornamental plants, may soon also be used in the cultivation of cannabis. Micropropagation is a method that yields clones that are identical and consistent in their characteristics. This method is used to produce a large number of new plants from a small number of parent plants. The cannabis industry, on the other hand, has been largely excluded from the utilization of this helpful method due to the fact that micropropagation of this species of plant is extremely challenging.

At this time, the commercial cannabis industry relies on alternative methods of propagation, such as the collection of seeds or the taking of cuttings from stock mother plants at precisely timed intervals. Because multiple examples of each line of stock plants need to be preserved in case of disease outbreak or plant death, these methods call for a significant amount of storage space as well as regular maintenance. Plants grown using tissue culture are dependent on the grower to play the role of nature by ensuring that the culture medium contains the appropriate proportions of nutrients and growth hormones, as well as regulating the temperature, the amount of light, and everything else. Micropropagation can be accomplished with relative ease for certain plant species, as evidenced by the rapid multiplication of explants after they have been placed in a growing medium. In the case of others, such as cannabis, the method needs to undergo a substantial amount of modification in order to guarantee the growth of a significant number of robust plants. Get in touch with Shoots ‘N’ Roots right away if you live in the state of Michigan and want to take part in cannabis tissue culture as well as learn how to cultivate your own plants.