Cryobiotechnology in Plants: Recent Advances and Prospects

The diversity of plant species plays a pivotal role in maintaining ecosystems, ecological balance and sustainability. However, these are constantly subjected to an increasing number of threats such as climate change, changing environmental conditions and several human activities. All these factors highlight the importance of conservation of plant germplasm. Among the several conservation strategies, cryopreservation, i.e., the storage of living cells and tissues at ultralow temperatures in liquid nitrogen, is the ideal method of long-term conservation of plant genetic resources. Cryopreservation techniques have been employed since the 20th century, and have evolved over time, thus amalgamating several biotechnological advances into the basic cryopreservation processes, to form a new field of cryobiotechnology. Although the large-scale, routine application of cryopreservation is still limited to a few laboratories, an increasing number of cryopreservation protocols are being reported in several crop species. Advances in omics-based technologies are now allowing researchers to gain an insight into the molecular dynamics of difficult cryobiological and conservation challenges. Mainstreaming of plant cryobiotechnological research and enabling cryobanking of germplasm will go a long way in conserving and maintaining the diversity of plant genetic resources.