• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.85 no.4
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• pp.667-679
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• 1996

Clonal forestry and reforestation programmes are especially interested now in development and application of controllable biotechnological systems based on the production of conifer somatic embryos in bioreactors with their following drilling and/or storage in the form of "artificial seeds". Modern achievements in conifer somatic embryogenesis has guided the development not only of biotechnological systems in forestry, but also of basic research in conifer embryology, cell and molecular biology. At the present time, the level of development of applied research on conifer somatic embryogenesis is well ahead our understanding of this complex phenomenon. The "bottleneck" situation in relation between basic and applied sciences will eventually lead to the appearance of "weak points" in biotechnological systems. In the present review, the major advances and the most pressing problems in the application of conifer somatic embryogenesis both to forest biotechnology and to basic research are in the focus of attention.