Plant tissue culture is method for growing plant tissues "in vitro", that is on an artificial, sterile nutrient medium in a sterile container. By manipulating the nutrients, plant hormones and growing conditions, entire plants can be grown from small pieces of plant tissues and are genetically identical to the donor plant from which the tissues were taken. Tissue culture is a very flexible technique and there are many variations. The following slides provide information on methods used in the Plant Research Division.