Abstract: This invention provides methods whereby taxol, baccatin III, and other taxol-like compounds, or taxanes, can be produced in very high yield from all known Taxus species, e.g., brevifolia, canadensis, cuspidata, baccata, globosa, floridana, wallichiana, media and chinensis. Particular modifications of culture conditions (i.e., media composition and operating modes) have been discovered to enhance the yield of various taxanes from cell culture of all species of Taxus. Particularly preferred enhancement agents include silver ion or complex, jasmonic acid (especially the methyl ester), auxin-related growth regulators, and inhibitors of the phenylpropanoid pathway, such as 3,4-methylenedioxy-6-nitrocinnamic acid. These enhancement agents may be used alone or in combination with one another or other yield-enhancing conditions. While the yield of taxanes from plant cell culture of T.

Abstract: This invention provides methods whereby taxol, baccatin III, and other taxol-like compounds, or taxanes, can be produced in very high yield from all known Taxus species, e.g., brevifolia, canadensis, cuspidata, baccata, globosa, floridana, wallichiana, media and chinensis. Particular modifications of culture conditions (i.e., media composition and operating modes) have been discovered to enhance the yield of various taxanes from cell culture of all species of Taxus. Particularly preferred enhancement agents include silver ion or complex, jasmonic acid (especially the methyl ester), auxin-related growth regulators, and inhibitors of the phenylpropanoid pathway, such as 3,4-methylenedioxy-6-nitrocinnamic acid. These enhancement agents may be used alone or in combination with one another or other yield-enhancing conditions. While the yield of taxanes from plant cell culture of T.

Abstract: This invention provides methods whereby taxol, baccatin III, and other taxol-like compounds, or taxanes, can be produced in very high yield from all known Taxus species, e.g., brevifolia, canadensis, cuspidata, baccata, globosa, floridana, wallichiana, media and chinensis. Particular modifications of culture conditions (i.e., media composition and operating modes) have been discovered to enhance the yield of various taxanes from cell culture of all species of Taxus. Particularly preferred enhancement agents include silver ion or complex, jasmonic acid (especially the methyl ester), auxin-related growth regulators, and inhibitors of the phenylpropanoid pathway, such as 3,4-methylenedioxy-6-nitrocinnamic acid. These enhancement agents may be used alone or in combination with one another or other yield-enhancing conditions. While the yield of taxanes from plant cell culture of T.

Abstract: Methods are provided for cryopreserving plant cells and to methods for recovering viable plant cells from long or short term cryopreservation. Plant cells to be cryopreserved can be grown in culture and pretreated with a solution containing an cryorotective agent and a stabilizer. Pretreated cells are acclimated to a reduced temperature and loaded with a cryoprotective agent such as DMSO, propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol. Loaded cells are incubated with a vitrification solution which, for example, comprises a solution with a high concentration of the cryoprotective agent. Vitrified cells retain less than about 20% water content and can be frozen at cryopreservation temperatures for long periods of time without significantly altering the genotypic or phenotypic character of the cells. Plant cells may also be cryopreserved by lyophilizing cells to a preferable water content of about 40% to about 60% by weight prior to exposure to a vitrification solution or loading agent.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for cryopreserving plant cells and to methods for recovering viable plant cells from long or short term cryopreservation. Plant cells to be cryopreserved can be grown in culture and pretreated with a solution containing an cryoprotective agent and, optionally, a stabilizer. Stabilizers are preferably membrane stabilizers such as ethylene inhibitors, oxygen radical scavengers and divalent cations. Cells can also be stabilized by subjecting the culture to a heat shock. Pretreated cells are acclimated to a reduced temperature and loaded with a cryoprotective agent such as DMSO, propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol. Loaded cells are incubated with a vitrification solution which, for example, comprises a solution with a high concentration of the cryoprotective agent.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods for cryopreserving plant cells and to methods for recovering viable plant cells from long or short term cryopreservation. Plant cells to be cryopreserved can be grown in culture and pretreated with a solution containing an cryoprotective agent and a stabilizer. Pretreated cells are acclimated to a reduced temperature and loaded with a cryoprotective agent such as DMSO, propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol. Loaded cells are incubated with a vitrification solution which, for example, comprises a solution with a high concentration of the cryoprotective agent. Vitrified cells retain less than about 20% water content and can be frozen at cryopreservation temperatures for long periods of time without significantly altering the genotypic or phenotypic character of the cells. Plant cells may also be cryopreserved by lyophilizing cells prior to exposure to a vitrification solution.

Abstract: This invention is directed to methods for the enhanced production and recovery of taxol and taxanes by cell cultures of Taxus species.

Abstract: A process for thinning fruitlets or fruits by exposing the crops to far-red night-break lighting treatments at certain stages of flower and fruit growth and development.

Abstract: A method of inhibiting premature budding and subsequent flowering of a floral crop selected from the group of chrysanthemum and poinsettia during the season in which the daily photoperiod does not exceed ten hours comprises the step of illuminating the crop, generally six hours after the onset of a night period, with a fifteen minute illumination of a narrowband red light having a predominant emission peak centered around 660 nm having an intensity in the range of 1 .mu.W/cm.sup.2 to 50 .mu.W/cm.sup.2.

Abstract: A process for accelerating dehiscence and reduction in "pull force" of fruits and nuts (in order to facilitate the mechanical harvesting process) by exposing the crops to far-red night-break lighting treatments at certain stages of fruit growth and development.

Abstract: Fruit set in crops can be increased with repeated exposures of the crops with light during the night times.More particularly, light at 660 nm can be administered for periods of 1 to 240 minutes daily, during the night times, from bloom time for the crop (or prior thereto) to early fruit development for the crop, for time spans from 30 to 50 days.Crops include apples (e.g., "Red Delicious"), almonds (e.g., "Nonpareil" and "Merced"), pistachios, soybean, calamondin, grapes, oranges, and cotton.Light can be obtained from a light source selected from the group consisting of fluorescent light source and high intensity discharge-lithium filled metal halide light source having an intensity range 1 .mu.W/cm.sup.2 to 400 .mu.W/cm.sup.2.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for controlling the abscission of plant parts by illuminating the plants during night periods with light having a wavelength selected from the group consisting of wavelengths in the order of 420nm, 550nm, 660nm and 740nm.

Abstract: One aspect of the invention comprises a method for stimulating organogenesis of explants in a tissue culture comprising the step of illuminating the explant culture during at least a portion of its differentiation stage with light having a predominate spectral emission of approximately 660nm.A second aspect of the invention includes the additional illumination of the explants with 740nm light, subsequent to an intervening period of preferably one to two weeks. The 660nm light primarily stimulates shoot formation while the 740nm light primarily stimulates root formation. The intervening period precludes photoreversibility of the initially obtained light effects.

Abstract: A tissue culture technique and a culture medium used therewith for asexually propagating a plurality of plants of the family Cruciferae are disclosed.According to one aspect of the invention, an excised portion of a donor plant is placed in a culture medium comprising organic and inorganic salts and a preferable concentration of 1 mg/l of Indoleacetic Acid, 0.5 mg/l of Kinetin and 40 mg/l of Adenine Sulfate. The medium induces the simultaneous initiation of buds and roots by the explant to form a plurality of plantlets which may be transplanted into soil for the timely initiation of food and medicinal crops.In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, the pre-culture storage of the requisite plant part in a convenient, disease-free, and pest-free manner is disclosed whereby callus from the excised portion of the donor plant is maintained on a first medium for subsequent transfer to the medium described above.