CULTIVATION OF GENETICALLY TRANSFORMED PLANT-ROOTS - POSSIBILITIES AND PROSPECTS FOR USE IN PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

The present review examines the main advantages of a procedural approa ch new for plant physiology, namely cultivation of roots genetically t ransformed by the R(i) plasmid of Agrobacterium rhizogenes (hairy root culture) to investigate regularities governing the biosynthesis of se condary metabolites in plants. A brief survey is given of results obta ined by a number of investigators using hairy root culture, and direct ions of research are characterized in which use of the new method seem s promising. Aspects of using the new procedural approach in biotechno logy are examined.