Cytokinins: Biological activity, mode of action and utilization in plant micropropagation

Cytokinins are a family of plant growth regulators widely used in plant micropropagation. In fact, cytokinins are added to culture medium to promote cell division, differentiation and growth. They act by affecting the concentration of endogenous plant hormones, which results in various morphogenetic responses. Cytokinins are also used to overcome the apical dominance of plants, to promote lateral bud development, to stimulate adventitious shoot bud induction and multiplication and to facilitate seed germination. In this book, we highlight the main biological activities, functions and modes of action of cytokinins, and we report the most important results from literature regarding the role of cytokinins in plant regeneration through different micropropagation techniques.