Seaweed callus culture: a comprehensive review of current circumstances and future perspectives

Abstract

Seaweed is becoming more and more in demand as it grows in popularity as a valuable source for several industries including pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetic, and functional food industries. Techniques for tissue culture, such as callus culture, have to be developed to deal with this demand. A callus is a mass of disordered, undifferentiated cell tissue that forms naturally as part of the wound reactions in plants and can also be artificially formed through balancing plant hormones such as auxin and cytokinin. Instead of cultivating the entire seaweed, callus can be used to swiftly and efficiently produce the necessary seaweed metabolites that are extremely important in industrial applications. However, seaweed callus culture is still in its infancy and lags far behind terrestrial plant. Also, the research on new findings and seaweed callus has significantly slowed or stopped in recent years. Therefore, additional research is required to advance the field, which will aid in satisfying the demand for seaweed. As another start in that direction, we have included in this review all information currently available on seaweed callus culture. We also concluded about potential downsides that could have slowed down seaweed callus development, in an effort to identify the gaps that need to be filled for a successful seaweed callus production.