What are the applications of tissue culture?

Plant tissue culture is a technique used extensively in plant sciences, horticulture and the large-scale commercial production of plants. It can be used to propagate sterile plants, conserve rare and endangered plants, screen for mutant traits, and to produce pathogen-free plant material from virused stock.

Animal cells or tissue cultures are instrumental in nearly all fields of life science research from toxicology studies, drug development and stem cell therapy to the production of monoclonal antibodies, vaccines, hormones and various other biological compounds. For instance, vaccines for polio, measles, mumps and chickenpox are all produced in cell cultures.