Integrated techniques for chimera free in vitro meristem regeneration in olive

The combination of adventitious shoots with ion-beam irradiation has proven to be an excellent way of obtaining solid, non-chimeric mutants. This is because adventitious shoots ultimately arise from only one cell, often of epidermal origin. In this research, the focus is on direct adventitious shoot regeneration on in vitro explants of olive trees. Since olive trees are very recalcitrant in this respect, we will have to optimise combinations of promising new in vitro tools. The goal is to develop successful protocols that allow the production of large mutant populations.