SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS AND ARTIFICIAL SEEDS - FROM ECONOMICAL ASPECTS TO TECHNICAL PROBLEMS

Somatic embryogenesis probably is the most powerful micropropagation pathway in plants. It results from one of the totipotencies of plant cells which are capable of generating embryos similar to zygotic embryos without passing through fecondation. Somatic embryogenesis can also be used as a way of selection when exploited from haploid cells. The techniques involved in somatic embryogenesis were however developed empirically and remain applicable for some species only, up to now. The idea has been raised to coat and encapsulate somatic embryos in order to transform them into artificial seeds. Some concluding assays already have been made but there still remain many obstacles before it will be able to produce artificial seeds on an industrial basis. The present paper reviews the economical and technical aspects and shows that there is an urgent need for fundamental investigation ot the physiological processes involved in somatic embryogenesis, Among the fundamental problems to be solved are the genetical and physiological capacities for embryogenesis, the induction, initiation and expression of the somatic embryogenesis processes, embryo development and maturation, dormancy with or without previous dessication, cold storage with or without coating.