Artificial Seed

Artificial (synthetic) seeds, or synseeds, are manufactured using embryoids - somatic embryos produced through in vitro culture (section 5.4.1) - though they can equally be built up from single cells taken from any part of the plant, provided those cells go on to divide and form a cell mass containing dense cytoplasm, a large nucleus, starch grains, proteins and oils, much like the food reserves of a true seed. To make an artificial seed, the somatic embryoid is coated in an inert encapsulating material - typically agarose or sodium alginate - which, once set, forms an artificial seed coat around an artificial endosperm layer surrounding the embryo (Figure 5.12). Artificial seeds offer several advantages a true seed cannot: millions can be manufactured at any time at low cost; they provide an easy way to propagate genetically engineered plants carrying desirable traits; the genotype of the resulting plants is easy to test in advance; they can potentially be stored long-term under cryopreservation (section 5.6.2); they reliably produce g …