Endophyte-engineered plant immunity: A post-GMO strategy for programmable crop defense

Crop cultivation has a long history in human civilization, with records showing the cultivation of cereal plants beginning at around 8000 BC. This early plant breeding was developed primarily to provide a steady supply of food.

Overview

Plant tissue culture is widely used in both primary and applied science. Applications range from plant development studies to functional gene studies, crop improvement, commercial micropropagation, virus elimination, and conservation of rare species.

Plant tissues are collections of similar cells performing related functions. Different plant tissues will have their own specialized roles and can be combined with other tissues to form organs such as flowers, fruit, stem, and leaves. Two major types of plant tissue include meristematic and permanent tissue.

Overview

Plants present a rich source of nutrients for many organisms, making it a target for herbivores and infectious agents. Plants, though lacking a proper immune system, have developed an array of constitutive and inducible defenses to fend off these attacks.