Vol. 8, Special Issue 12 (2025)
Abstract
Fruit crops are important for the global diet and economy, but their improvement is challenging because of long juvenile periods, high heterozygosity, pathogen burden, and restricted natural variability. Here, we review how plant tissue culture has become a transformative technology to address these limitations, providing rapid, season-independent clonal propagation, virus elimination, genetic engineering, and long-term germplasm conservation. This review outlines the development of tissue culture based techniques in fruit crops, beginning with organogenesis and callus culture and progressing to micropropagation, somatic embryogenesis, protoplast fusion and cell suspension technology. Key variables contributing to success in vitro, such as explant type, media formulation, PGRs and genotype dependence, are also considered. Applications of tissue culture-based techniques such as production of pathogen free planting material, breeding of superior rootstock and scions, and utilisation of somaclonal variation in breeding are discussed. The integration of molecular tools, such as genetic transformation, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based genome editing, marker-assisted selection, has improved the efficiency and accuracy of fruit crop improvement. Breakthroughs in bioreactor propagation, temporary immersion systems, and AI-based optimization are paving the way for scalable, cost-efficient micropropagation. While recalcitrance, somaclonal variation, contamination, and high operational costs continue to pose difficulties, the ongoing development of omics technologies, synthetic seed technology, cryopreservation, and in planta genome editing will continue to shape the future of fruit crop biotechnology. Together, these advancements in plant tissue culture technology form the foundation for sustainable, efficient, and high-quality fruit crop propagation and genetic improvement.
