Progress in Tissue Culture and Genetic Transformation of Oil Palm: An Overview

Oil palm (<i>Elaeis guineensis</i>, Jacq.) is a prominent vegetable-oil-yielding crop. Cultivating high-yielding oil palm with improved traits is a pre-requisite to meet the increasing demands of palm oil consumption. However, tissue culture and biotechnological approaches can resolve th...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rajesh Yarra, Longfei Jin, Zhihao Zhao, Hongxing Cao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-10-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/21/5353
Description
Summary:Oil palm (<i>Elaeis guineensis</i>, Jacq.) is a prominent vegetable-oil-yielding crop. Cultivating high-yielding oil palm with improved traits is a pre-requisite to meet the increasing demands of palm oil consumption. However, tissue culture and biotechnological approaches can resolve these concerns. Over the past three decades, significant research has been carried out to develop tissue culture and genetic transformation protocols for oil palm. Somatic embryogenesis is an efficient platform for the micropropagation of oil palm on a large scale. In addition, various genetic transformation techniques, including microprojectile bombardment, <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i> mediated, Polyethylene glycol mediated mediated, and DNA microinjection, have been developed by optimizing various parameters for the efficient genetic transformation of oil palm. This review mainly emphasizes the methods established for in vitro propagation and genetic transformation of oil palm. Finally, we propose the application of the genome editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to improve the various traits in this oil yielding crop.
ISSN:1422-0067