Question

Short note on aseptic techniques in plant tissue cultures

Answer 1

Aseptic condition means free from all micro-organism. Propagation of plant tissues in culture requires aseptic techniques to ensure specimens and equipment are free of contaminants such as bacteria, fungi, or algae, that may otherwise quickly overgrow the culture and destroy it.Aseptic techniques combine protocols to remove contaminants from material (sterilization, desinfection) and procedures to maintain sterility during manipulation of material.A variety of sterilization or disinfection procedures are used, taking into account considerations of effectiveness, resilience of the material to be sterilized, availability, and cost.Sterilization techniques may be grouped into physical (heat, irradiation, sterile filtration) and chemical approaches. While physical approaches are frequently used to prepare instruments, culture vessels and media, they are often too harsh on biological materials, effectively killing them in the process. Therefore, chemical disinfectants, careful dissection, or simple washing is used to aseptically transfer biological specimens into sterile culture.The maintenance of sterility is achieved by providing a workspace that minimizes the chance of introducing contaminants into cultures. Surface decontamination, sterilization of tools, and the establishment of a germ-free working atmosphere are required. The latter can be achieved by various means, ranging from simple clean boxes, glove boxes, or hot water vapor workspaces, to home-made or professional-type laminar airflow work benches