title: A Comparison of In Vitro and In Vivo Asexual Embryogenesis.
abstract: In plants, embryogenesis generally occurs through the sexual process of double fertilization, which involves a haploid sperm cell fusing with a haploid egg cell to ultimately give rise to a diploid embryo. Embryogenesis can also occur asexually in the absence of fertilization, both in vitro and in vivo. Somatic or gametic cells are able to differentiate into embryos in vitro following the application of plant growth regulators or stress treatments. Asexual embryogenesis also occurs naturally in some plant species in vivo, from either ovule cells as part of a process defined as apomixis, or from somatic leaf tissue in other species. In both in vitro and in vivo asexual embryogenesis, the embryo precursor cells must attain an embryogenic fate without the act of fertilization. This review compares the processes of in vitro and in vivo asexual embryogenesis including what is known regarding the genetic and epigenetic regulation of each process, and considers how the precursor cells are able to change fate and adopt an embryogenic pathway.
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Agriculture, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia.
authors.forename: Melanie L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hand
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Wageningen, Wageningen, 6703 HA, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sacco
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Agriculture, Waite Campus, Urrbrae, South Australia. anna.koltunow@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Anna M G
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Koltunow
mesh_terms: D060832:Apomixis / Q000235:genetics; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D005306:Fertilization / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D063245:Plant Development / Q000235:genetics*; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000235:genetics; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D012100:Reproduction, Asexual / Q000235:genetics*; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D010937:Plant Growth Regulators
keywords: Adventitious embryony; Apomixis; Cell fate; Gametic embryogenesis; Kalanchoë; Parthenogenesis; Somatic embryo genesis