In this review, we address the role of stress as one of the principal causes for a cell
or tissue to change its preexisting somatic program, reprogramming itself to express
the embryogenic pathway. The focus of this paper is the effect of different stress
conditions on the induction phase of plant somatic embryogenesis, as well as the
development of embryogenic competence as a result of the applied stresses. We
also present a variety of data that link plant somatic embryogenesis, DNA
methylation and oxidative stress response
