Tissue culture approaches to improve nutritional quality and stress response in peanut

Peanut, also known as groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), is an annual leguminous oil crop cultivated worldwide for food and fodder. Several stress factors critically diminish the productivity and nutritional quality of this protein-rich plant. In vitro cell and tissue culture systems have been used in many plant species to rapidly propagate large numbers of plants, create somaclonal variation, produce bioactive compounds, and enable genetic engineering. Tissue culture based mutagenesis and genetic engineering are particularly attractive for crop improvement. Tissue culture techniques have been implicated over the years to improve peanut, despite the general recalcitrant nature of this species to in vitro culture. In this manuscript, we review the progress that has been made on in vitro culture of peanut, and its application to improve nutritional quality and resistance to major biotic and abiotic stresses in peanut.