Microspore Embryogenesis Through Anther Culture in Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan.

Anther culture is a biotechnological method that allows to obtain, in one step, homozygous plants, very important to plant breeding, due to their numerous applications in mutation research, selection, genome sequencing, genetic analysis, and transformation. To induce the microspores, i.e., the immature male gametes, to switch from the normal gametophytic pathway to the sporophytic one, it is necessary to submit them to a type of stress, such as high or low temperature, starvation, or magnetic field. Stress can be applied to the donor plants and/or the floral buds or the anthers or the isolated microspores, before or during the culture. In this chapter, the protocol to induce gametic embryogenesis from anther culture of several cultivars of Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan. is reported.