Review: Seaweed tissue culture as applied to biotechnology: Problems, achievements and prospects

Advances have been made in cell and tissue culture of seaweeds to define a unique branch of in vitro techniques; however, they are lagging far behind those of land plants and have limited applications. Explants can be cultivated axenically in enriched or artificial seawater culture media, and regeneration and even callus formation are achieved. In this state of the art technique, seaweed tissue culture may be already useful for certain biotechnological applications, such as clonal propagation of seed material for mariculture. Nevertheless, the absolute control of growth and development as it is exerted in higher plant tissue culture is lacking, and it is required for more complex biotechnological applications in seaweeds. Definitively, we need appropriate cells (competent cells) to induce growth with the most effective chemical regulators in culture medium adjusted towards the addition of carbon sources. Still, free cells and protoplast isolation and regeneration in marine seaweeds constitute the most developed topic in seaweed tissue culture. The regulation of growth and development of seaweed free cell and protoplast cultures may sustain a purposeful use of techniques in the era of genomic applications.