STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABE Ș-BOLYAI BIOLOGIA, LXI, 1, 2016 (p. 11-12) [604826]

STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABE Ș-BOLYAI BIOLOGIA, LXI, 1, 2016 (p. 11-12)

=== ORAL PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS ===

Forty Years from the Beginning of th e Research in the Field of Plant
Tissue and Cell Culture in Romania

Dorina Cachi ță-Cosma1,, Aurel Ardelean12
and Constantin Cr ăciun23

At the beginning of twenties century, based on the discoveries in cell biology
in the previous decades, the German botanist Haberlandt (1902) has founded the concept of cell totipotentiality. The progress registered in biology between the two
World Wars has led to the development of a new research field in plant physiology,
based on nutrition, biochemistry and cytology that is the culture of plant tissue and
cells in vitro. After the Second World War the practical applications of those new
discoveries has allowed the development, after 1954, of a series of bio-industries at large scale, as clonal micropropagation of ornamentals and economically important
crops, as well as the use of biomass in pharmaceutical industry as a source of secondary metabolites.
This new field has raised the interest and enthusiasm of the researchers in
Romania as well. In 1975 three resear chers from Romania being specialized
abroad, i.e. Cachi ță D., Coman T and Brezeanu A., have learned the in vitro culture
technology. Coming back to Romania tho se researchers have each developed in
their home institutes new laboratories for plant in vitro culture. As a result of their research abroad, Cachi ță and Brezeanu did published four papers in European
journals (France, Belgium and Germany) as well as one publication in USA.
Starting from 1989 annual symposia was organized in our country, the first
being organized by the Biological Research Center and Institute of Agronomy, both from Cluj-Napoca. All presentations were published in the first volume of this
symposium. 19th such symposia were organized during the following years but

1 „Vasile Goldi ș” Western University, Arad, Institute of Life Sciences.
2 „Babeș – Bolyai῍ University, ClujNapoca.
 Corresponding author: Dorina Cachi ță-Cosma, “Vasile Goldi șˮ West University of Arad,
E-mail: [anonimizat]

ORAL PRESENTATION ABSTRACT

12 only 12 volumes have been successfully pub lished. Prof. Ardelean A., the previous
rector of „V. Goldi ș῍ West University Arad, has greatly contributed to the
publication of 9 out of 12 volumes, those 9 representing the papers presented at 10
meetings at national level, some of th em with international contributors.
We would like also to mention the contribution of Prof. Cr ăciun Constantin
from Babe ș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, as an editor of two of the issues of the
conferences, as well as its collaboration to ultrastructural studies of in
vitrophytoinocula. It is also to be mentio ned that in 1990 The Romanian Association
of Plant Tissue and Cell Culture has b een grounded, organization which has been
involved in the organization of all nati onal meetings in plant biotechnology as
mentioned before. From 1975 our country was affiliated at The International
Association for Plant Tissue Culture (IAPTC), many Romanian researchers
participating to the international conferences and congresses taking place around
the globe.